


Spectacular Sides

by kimurasato



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-03
Updated: 2016-02-09
Packaged: 2018-02-19 18:00:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 30,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2397611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kimurasato/pseuds/kimurasato
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of side stories from various points of view and taking place during Spectacular Specter: The Origin of Phantom. </p>
<p>Chapter 23.5: Spectra receives a surprise visitor, though it isn't who she was expecting to show up at her office. (Set during chapter 23 of Spectacular Specter)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 23.5

Spectra paced around her office, barely containing the rage burning a hole in her chest. Her fingers kept curling and straightening, wanting to dig her long, red nails into something to satisfy her anger. When the door to her office opened, she could barely reign in her emotions enough to plaster her fake cheerful smile onto her face as she turned to face whomever had entered.

"Oh, it's only you," Spectra muttered, letting her false face fall when she saw the short man closing the door behind him. "Sometimes, I think this job wasn't worth agreeing to." She walked over to lean against her desk. "Listening to all those stupid teenagers whine about the littlest thing is really starting to grate on my nerves." Reaching into the pocket of her red suit jacket, she retrieved a small compact then flipped it open. "Ugh! Look! I'm already developing wrinkles." She tilted her head up, examining her reflection in the mirror.

"I can hardly see any wrinkles." The man moved away from the door and came to stand before Spectra. "You look as young and beautiful as always."

"Oh, don't be such a brown nosing kiss up, Bertrand!" Spectra snapped the compact shut with a click and shot the man a withering glare. "You'd have to be absolutely blind not to see the wrinkles." She placed the compact down on her desk, tapped a red painted nail upon the top of it, then folded her arms. "So what news do you bring me?"

Bertrand huffed, his gaze turned away as he straightened his coat. He mumbled something, but even straining her ear, Spectra couldn't make out his words. "We failed to acquire what we were looking for." He frowned, frustration flashing in his green eyes. "But what of the boy I told you about?"

Her lips curled into a smirk. "You were right. He definitely has potential. He's ripe with rage and despair. A perfect specimen." Spectra's mouth pursed, and the anger flared through her again. "If I could just get my hands on him. But - Argh!" She felt the urge to rip out some of her vibrant red hair! But she would never risk ruining her beautiful appearance. "That darn teacher keeps getting in the way. If he hadn't been present, I could have gotten that Fenton kid."

Bertrand scratched thoughtfully at his chin. "Well, there are," he glanced toward Spectra as a small, devilish smirk spread onto his face, " _ways_ of removing such obstacles."

Spectra returned the smirk, knowing the "ways" Bertrand meant. After all, they had eliminated people who stood in their way in the past. But she shook her head, leaning back on her arms. "No, we were told to be discreet with our involvement. Find targets and lure them to us. If we kill another teacher, that pesky Police Chief might start putting the pieces together and figure us out."

"Unlikely," Bertrand responded in a huff.

Spectra laughed in amusement when she saw the expression on his face. "Did I hit a nerve there? I'd be careful with that big ego. The moment you start feeling too overconfident is when you start making mistakes that get you caught."

Bertrand's face twisted and turned red. "I would never get caught!"

"I certainly hope not." Spectra smirked to see the man with his feathers ruffled. "I would hate to lose my little helper."

"I am not some sort of elf!" Bertrand shouted, his face becoming all the redder.

"And you apparently don't have a sense of humor." Spectra sighed in disappointment, wishing the people she worked with would lighten up a little sometimes. They could all be such dry stiffs who left her wanting to reach for a cigarette. If it weren't for the fact that the teenage angst made high schools a spa treatment for her, she probably would have refused to work for these people. "And how are things with that other little project the bosses had their eyes on?"

"She has potential." Some of the red faded from Bertrand's face with the change in topics. "Though she might take a little work."

Spectra huffed to herself. So she was missing out on all the fun again. With her special skill set, she knew blending into the local high schools was the best job for her, but it also proved her theory that she was at the bottom of the totem pole in the organization. She didn't like being on the bottom and following the orders of other people.

A knock on the door interrupted any further conversation they might have had. Spectra froze for a split second before shooting a look to Bertrand, but the man was already making his way toward the window in her office. A surge of jealousy rose in her as she watched Bertrand climb out the window. How nice it must be to be able to slip away unseen!

Spectra pulled her attention back to her work. After walking to the door, she pulled it open, forcing a bright smile onto her face. She almost let her mask slip when she saw it wasn't the young man she hoped would stop by her office. Though disappointed, she smiled and stepped aside, opening the door wider for the student to enter.

"Please, do come in." Her green eyes followed the teenager as he stepped into the office with a nervous look upon his face. If she recalled correctly, she had seen the young man hanging around the Fenton boy earlier. If they were friends, perhaps this could work to her advantage. After she closed the door, she ushered the boy over to the chair before her desk. "Now tell me." She took a seat perched on her desk. "What's troubling you?"


	2. Chapter 26.5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack has the unfortunate task of picking up his sister-in-law from the airport.

Jack stood, unhappily, at the baggage area of the airport. Maddie asked him to be the one to pick up her sister while she set up room for Alicia in their house. He knew keeping busy was their way of putting Jazz's death out of mind, if only for a little while. If not for their work, or obsessive cleaning of the house in some cases, Jack feared he would be a blubbering baby all day. Last night, he had spent at least an hour standing in the doorway of Jazz's bedroom and just staring at it. The memories would hit him, and he nearly broke down as he recalled things like reading Jazz bedtime stories or consoling her when she had nightmares and even slipping into her room to leave quarters under her pillow when she lost a tooth.

Jazz was such a smart young woman, much like her mother. Jack was quite proud of how wise his daughter was, even though he didn't always understand her talk of psychology. Jazz was going to graduate high school this year. She would go off to college next fall. Jack imagined Jazz starting up her own practice after graduating from college and getting her degree in psychology. She would be successful. She had a whole amazing life ahead of her.

But now she was gone. Jack frowned, his heart breaking all over again. If he continued thinking about all the things Jazz would miss out on now, all the memories he would have had of his daughter, he would end up breaking down crying right there in the airport.

"Now there's an ugly mug for sore eyes."

Jack cringed at the familiar voice. "Hello, Alicia," he greeted, trying to be as polite as possible. "You're looking... lovely as ever."

Alicia was two years older than her sister Maddie. But sometimes, they seemed a world apart to Jack. They had both trained in fighting, but in stature Alicia was taller and had the look of a lumberjack, even wearing overalls and a plaid shirt. Jack thought for sure she could even bench press a man of his size. It wasn't her burly appearance or her freakish strength that made Jack cringe away when she slapped a hand onto his shoulder. Alicia had never approved of him and made a point of telling him so every time they saw one another.

"Did you have any bags you need to pick up?" Jack nodded toward the baggage carousel.

"Naw." Alicia patted the top of her luggage. "I never put my stuff under. 'Sides I won't be staying long. Know you don't want me stickin' around for more than a few days."

Jack couldn't deny he was a little happy to know it wouldn't be a long stay. He could only take so much of his sister-in-law putting him down. "I'm sure Maddie and Danny wouldn't mind you sticking around for a while."

"I know not to overstay my welcome." Alicia led the way toward the exit of the airport, wheeling her luggage behind her. She glanced his way when they stepped outside into the late afternoon sunlight. "I know I've been hard on you in the past."

"Hard?" Jack scoffed under his breath as he led the way toward his car. He had endured plenty of teasing in school and ridicule from other scientists, but Alicia always seemed to have this way of belittling him that made the rest feel like a picnic by comparison.

"Okay." Alicia rolled her eyes. "More than hard. But," she frowned grimly, "while I still believe Maddie could have chosen a much better husband, I have to admit that you have always been a good father. You might be an oblivious buffoon most of the time, but you did your best to always be there for Jazz and Danny and care for them."

"I-" Jack was at a loss for words, his key already in the lock of the car door. Alicia never said anything kind to him. Was he having some sort of grief stricken hallucination? He was certain that was the only explanation for Alicia being nice.

"Are we gettin' in the car and leavin'?" Alicia stared over the top of the car at him with impatience in her eyes. "I didn't come here to loiter around the airport."

"Right!" Jack laughed forcibly as he unlocked the car. "Let's hit the road then." _Just forget about Alicia being nice and saying you're a good father_. He nodded to his thought and turned the key in the ignition. The car rumbled to life while Alicia dumped her luggage in the backseat before she joined him in the front of the car. It was easier for him to pretend Alicia was the same mean old sister-in-law, instead of thinking on the fact that she could be nice to him, when she chose.

Jack drove toward his home with little conversation between them. Alicia spent the time fiddling with his radio stations, complaining about the lack of "good" music in Amity Park. They had completely different definitions of what good music was, and Jack would rather listen to some of Jazz's classical music or Danny's favorite group Dumpty Humpty on repeat than the banjo strumming music Alicia liked.

When they arrived, Jack got out and took his sister-in-law's luggage from the backseat. He _thought_ he was being polite and helpful, but Alicia immediately snatched the luggage handle from him and said she didn't need a _man's_ help. Jack grumbled to himself, but it was pointless to argue with Alicia. She didn't want his help. Jack would keep that in mind for the future.

Maddie met them when they entered the house. She hugged her sister tightly, and Alicia patted Maddie on the back, offering her comforting words. "We have you set up in the spare room," Maddie said when she pulled away from her sister. She wiped at a watery eye. "I know the foldout bed isn't the most comfortable-"

"I've slept on worse," Alicia said with a small shrug. "Camping in the woods doesn't exactly offer the best of places to sleep, even with a tent and sleeping bag. The ground is still hard and lumpy, even in the areas clear enough to set up camp."

The thunder of feet came down the stairs, and Jack looked over in time to see his son hop the last three steps.

"Danny!" Alicia greeted, drawing her nephew into a big bear hug.

"Hey, Aunt Alicia. How was the flight?" Danny wheezed slightly until he released from the embrace.

"Long and boring. No good in flight movie. Gave me time to catch up on some reading though." Alicia grinned as she ruffled Danny's raven locks. "Bright side, no crying babies or people coughing and sneezing all around me."

"That's good." Danny smiled then glanced toward his parents. "Uh, I promised to meet Tuck and Sam for some studying tonight. Is that all right?"

"Sure." Maddie smiled softly. "Just don't stay out too late."

Danny nodded. "Sorry to run out when you just got here, Aunt Alicia."

"Don't worry about it." Alicia slapped Danny on the shoulder, making him stumble a step forward. "Schoolwork and friends are important. You can hang out with your aunt later."

"We should get you settled in," Maddie suggested as she picked up her sister's luggage without Alicia complaining. Then she led her sister upstairs to show Alicia to the spare room.

"See you later," Danny called, tugging his bag over his shoulder before he darted out the front door to go and meet up with his friends.

Jack headed for the laboratory. Maybe if he worked on some projects, engrossed himself in his work, he would take his mind off everything that was happening. He could forget, for a little while, that Jazz was gone. He could pretend everything was okay again.


	3. Chapter 43.5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vlad Masters is a busy man with many projects he is working on, though some of them are kept secret.

He paced the laboratory, chewing on a thumbnail. It was a habit he had whenever he was deep in thought about something, and despite attempts to break the habit, he continued to do it. Back in college, Maddie would always scold him when she saw him biting his nail. The corner of his mouth twitched when he remembered Maddie. He had such fond memories of her, and to an extent Jack.

Vlad shook his head. Now was not the time to be distracted by past crushes. He had plans to focus on. Pausing in his pacing, he stopped before a containment unit, a four foot in diameter cylinder made of thick glass. Inside the unit, electricity sparked, bouncing around at dizzying speeds but unable to break free from its prison.

"We could have done great things together." Vlad placed a hand to the glass as his mouth thinned and his eyes narrowed. So many plans were ruined because the experiment hadn't turned out exactly how he expected. "Honestly, I think you should have thanked me. I gave you a power no mortal has. If I hadn't done what I did, you would still be stuck in that coma with your body rotting and wasting away." His hand curled into a fist, and he pounded it against the containment unit. "I'll get them for that explosion. They've gone back on their word and plotted behind my back one too many times."

For now, he was still trying to think of a safe way to use Technus, who couldn't even maintain a form long enough to be a threat at the moment. And that was the number one problem. If the machine disrupting his energy was shut down for even a second, Technus would escape and continue his obsessive desire for revenge.

Straightening his stance, he glanced over his shoulder as he smoothed down his suit. "I hope you have good news for me."

"Have I mentioned how creepy that is?" A man stepped out of the shadows and into the light of the laboratory. He was tall with broad shoulders. His dark skin stretched over his tight muscles, his figure suggesting he worked out a lot. Given the type of work he did, it was no surprise.

Vlad scowled, wrinkling his nose at the leather pants and bright green hair sticking up. The man could easily be mistaken for some kind of rock star. "You look like things didn't go so well."

The man ran a finger down a fresh scar on his cheek. "I ran into a little trouble, but I'll be better prepared next time."

Vlad twitched, struggling to hold back his rage. "You failed?" His nails dug into his palms, and his knuckles ached from how tightly he had balled his fists. This man, this Skulker, wasn't his first choice to go after Phantom, but said first choice had refused to accept the job. He snorted to himself. What kind of mercenary who claimed to take on any job would refuse one as simple as capturing a silly superhero?

"I _would_ have captured him," Skulker growled, his green eyes flashing angrily, "if my system hadn't exploded on me. I don't know how he did it, but somehow he planted some explosives to take out my controls." He reached into a sack he had with him and retrieved a small vial from within it. "But I do have a gift for you."

When Skulker tossed it to him, Vlad snatched the vial out of the air. Then he held it between his index finger and thumb, staring at the green substance inside it. "And what exactly is this supposed to be?"

"While I couldn't capture him, I did succeed in wounding Phantom. That," Skulker pointed at the vial, "is a sample of his blood that I pulled off the spike that stabbed him in the foot."

Vlad eyed the green substance curiously before he slowly smirked. "Well, that changes things." He curled his hand around the vial then looked at Skulker. "Though I would prefer having Phantom himself to study." Still, he could learn quite a lot just from the small sample of Phantom's blood. The corner of his mouth curled into a cruel smirk. This would only be the beginning.


	4. Chapter 48.5A

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After snapping at Danny, Tucker searches for Sam.

Anger continued to buzz through him. It was like this itch beneath the surface that he couldn't reach. When he tried to ignore it, it only seemed to grow more intense. If he didn't let it out somehow, he thought it might make him explode, and walking around the plaza was doing little to help cool off his head.

Hugging his coat tighter around him, Tucker squeezed through the crowded area as he looked for Sam. They had lost touch with each other after he told her to just stop already and stormed off again. She hadn't followed. This was supposed to be their traditional watching the town's Christmas tree being lit up, and they were supposed to enjoy it and have fun. Then Sam would get to pick what they did next. Now everything was ruined all because-

_BOOM!_

Tucker flinched at the noise. After storming away from his friends, he ended up quite some distance from the plaza where the ceremony was being held. There were several popular stores near where he was, so the area was fairly packed with people doing some shopping before the mayor was to give his speech. Panic surged through him. He had no idea where Sam was! What if she was close to whatever exploded? She could be hurt!

"Excuse me! Sorry! Coming through!" Tucker pushed his way through the crowd while his green eyes remained alert for his friend. Where was Sam? _Please don't be hurt!_ He reached the plaza after a few minutes of struggling against the crowd of people who murmured in quiet tones to each other. Smoke rose from the stage in the center of the plaza where the mayor would get up to speak to the crowd. Police had gathered, and from the looks of it, Officer Walker was barking orders.

Then Tucker spotted Sam standing apart from the crowd. Or as apart as she could manage with how many people were packed into the plaza. He hurried over to her about to call out to her when he noticed she was on the phone.

"Tucker's still being grumpy. I tried talking to him, but I think I would have better luck beating my head against a wall," Sam said, and Tucker had a good idea of whom was on the other end of the call. It was _always_ Danny. "Wait. Was that Ember?"

Tucker stiffened when he heard Sam's question. Not only was _Danny_ Sam's first thought after something exploded, but Danny was with Ember! Tucker turned away from Sam and stomped away. It felt _so great_ knowing his friends cared so much about _his_ well being. They didn't know where he was when the explosion happened. He could be hurt, and they wouldn't think to care. Sam and Danny only cared about each other. It was no wondered people always thought they were a couple.

"Danny, Danny, Danny," Tucker muttered, leaving the plaza behind him. "It's always about Danny." Even when they were just "losers," Danny was still the more popular one out the three of them. Now Danny had ghost powers and would become popular as a superhero. Danny always got everything.

"Ah, Tucker Foley."

He paused when he heard someone say his name. Then he turned to the woman stepping out of a small cafe. A ruby red handbag hung from the crook of her arm. Despite the chilly weather, she wore her usual dress suit which reached only to the knees and her red high heels, which didn't seem like it would keep her warm even with the overcoat she wore.

"Ms. Spectra," Tucker mumbled in surprise, not expecting to run into the school's counselor.

"Oh my!" Ms. Spectra placed a hand to her cheek as she frowned. "You look positively green with envy. Why don't we go somewhere a little more quiet?" She laid her hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze. "You can tell me everything that's bothering you."

Tucker nodded without hesitation, allowing the counselor to lead him off someplace where they could talk privately. Ms. Spectra assured him things would get better. Talking about his feelings and problems was better than keeping it all bottled up inside him. Tucker just wished things would "get better" already. He hated having all this anger raging inside him.


	5. Chapter 48.5B

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dan doesn't like having a good night interrupted.

"I was having a really nice time." Dan leaned his back against the doorframe as he folded his arms. "But then you had to go and ruin it by trying to blow everything up." He turned his head and glared from behind his mask at the man standing up from where he crouched by the window. "But I guess that's no big surprise from you, Skulker."

The man snorted. He was about the same height as Dan, and they shared similar physiques with broad shoulders and strong muscles. From the distance, their silhouettes could be mistaken for each other. "That's hilarious to hear from the maniac that blew up an entire building to kill just one person."

Dan shrugged. "I was improvising." But that was a spectacular explosion! "If I recall correctly, this assignment was capture the target, not kill him."

"You should know that only _looked_ like it would kill someone." Skulker smirked, the light from the window illuminating his dark face. "And anyway, the order was to bring Phantom in alive. It never said he had to be in one piece." He closed some of the distance between them, but both of them knew better than to get too close to the other man. "But I'm curious." Green eyes searched the costumed man like Skulker was trying to figure out all of Dan's secrets. "Why are you here? As I heard it, you turned down this job? But that's even stranger. Since when do you turn down a job?"

"I turn down jobs all the time." Dan shrugged. His reasons weren't any of Skulker's business. "But I'm sure your employer isn't happy that he got settled with the number two man."

Skulker twitched when Dan called him number two. His lips drew back, and his teeth ground tightly before the man could reign back his anger. "I think he'd be more interested in learning about why the man he originally contacted for the job is now getting in the way of the mission," he bit out, narrowing his eyes dangerously.

Dan yawned, raising a hand to cover his mouth because otherwise Skulker wouldn't be able to see the yawn behind his mask. "Oh, I'm sorry. Were you talking?" He cracked a grin at the anger flashing through Skulker's eyes. The other mercenary hated being ignored. "Shall we get this over with then?"

"And I thought you were going to talk my ear off for another hour."

"Well, I can do that later." Dan pushed away from the doorframe then cracked the knuckles of one hand. "You've put me in a pretty bad mood right now."

"Oh? You'll have to tell me what I did to piss you off." Skulker slapped a hand onto one shoulder and rolled that shoulder a few times. "Then I can do it again in the future."

Dan planned on letting nothing slip to the other man. He only survived this long because he made sure his enemies wouldn't find anything to hold over him. Everyone who knew him saw him as a coldhearted mercenary who accomplished every job ever presented to him. It wasn't entirely accurate though. There were certain jobs he wouldn't take, but he would never explain his reasons to anyone. He would prefer to be thought of as coldhearted rather than his enemies taking advantage of any "softness" he showed.

"Let's get this over with." Dan fell into a defensive stance, ready to fight Skulker. "There's a marathon on tonight that I'd like to catch."

"Hope you set it to tape because you're not going to make it back on time." The corner of Skulker's mouth curled upward.

Dan didn't take the bait. He knew the other mercenary was simply trying to provoke him into attacking blindly. His eyes flicked about the room, searching for the traps Skulker was so fond of using. If Skulker wanted him to step forward, Dan suspected the reason was because there was trigger or trip wire in front of him. He might not see it, but he had a good idea of the way Skulker worked.

"What's the matter? Too chicken to attack me?"

"I could ask the same of you." Dan cautiously stepped forward, tense and ready to bolt of he heard the familiar sound of a trap being triggered. "For all that muscle you have, you're always hiding behind a wall of traps. Is that just for show?" He cocked a smirk, even though it went unseen by the other mercenary. When Skulker's expression darkened, his eyes narrowing with hate, Dan knew he had hit a nerve.

"Enough!" Skulker shouted and charged forward.

_No traps then_. With a grin, Dan dodged the hard punch thrown at his head. He countered, slamming his fist into Skulker's gut. The green eyed mercenary grunted from the force of the blow then returned the favor by dropping his elbow hard on top of Dan's head. A foot pressed into his chest. Dan managed to grab hold of it for a second before the kick shoved him backward. His back slammed into the doorframe, the sharp edge digging into his spine.

"You're not so tough." Skulker sneered as he set his foot on the ground.

Dan laughed, and it gradually grew in volume. Skulker jerked back half a step, his mouth pressing thin and watching Dan like he was witnessing another person's mental breakdown. Dan ran a hand under one eye, pretending to wipe away a tear. Then he straightened up, his demeanor easily shifting from joking to serious. "I'm not too bad at traps and tricks myself."

"What?" Dread settled across Skulker's face.

Dan's mouth slowly spread into a grin. "Boom!"

The boot of the foot Skulker had used to kick him earlier exploded. It wasn't a powerful explosion, but it was enough to wound the mercenary. Skulker shouted out as he dropped to the ground, smoke rising from his bloodied leg. Dan sauntered over while Skulker gritted his teeth, struggling to keep back whimpers of pain. Crouching down beside the other mercenary, he drew out the knife hidden in one Skulker's pockets.

"Let your employer know that if he continues hunting down Phantom, he will regret it," Dan explained in a slow, even tone. Then for good measure so message would stick in his mind, he stabbed the knife into the crook of Skulker's right arm, earning a deep throated growl from Skulker.


	6. Chapter 52.5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After overhearing something she probably shouldn't have, Elle needs someone to talk to. (Set a little before and then after chapter 52)

"I'm terminating our contract."

Elle kept out of sight when she heard her father's voice. She had seen the man her father spoke to a few times when he came to their house to have secret meetings with her father. Whatever they talked about, she didn't know, and she never thought to be curious even though the man didn't strike her as the usual type of person with whom her father talked business. The man didn't come dressed in a nice, freshly pressed suit. He wore leather pants and jacket. He gave off a dangerous vibe that had Elle holding her breath and hoping he wouldn't take notice of her. Today, he came limping into their home, bruised and battered, with his right arm bandaged and hanging limp at his side.

"You paid me to do a job," the man argued. Elle never learned his name.

"I paid you to bring Phantom to me," her father snapped, and Elle nearly gasped out loud. "I didn't tell you to make such a scene. I wanted this done quietly. Now it's all over the news after those two attacks you've done. Do you think I want the police sticking their nose into my business?"

"The news is painting it up to be all Phantom's fault anyway."

"I paid you the money we agreed on. So our contract is complete. Now, if you would, please leave my house."

The man made a frustrated sound. "Next time you need a job done, _don't_ call me." He stormed as well as he could with his limp toward the laboratory's exit.

Elle shrank down as much as she could where she hid so she wouldn't be seen when he passed her. The door clicked shut after the man left, and Elle only relaxed a little. She came to the laboratory to ask her father if it was okay for her to take on a seasonal part time job to make some money to buy the gift she had in mind for Danny. Of course, she could always simply ask her father for the money, but she wanted to work for it and earn the money on her own for this. She doubted her father would appreciate knowing that she had overheard that conversation, so she wasn't about to announce her presence.

Her father sighed. "Now I can get back to unlocking your secrets."

Elle cautiously peeked over the table behind which she hid. Her father stood at one of his work tables holding up a test tube filled with a green substance. She frowned curiously. Her father didn't tell her about a lot of his projects, the ones he worked on personally. She never dared to enter his laboratory unless she had a good reason for being there.

The phone rang, and her father grumbled in frustration. He set his cell phone down on the table before he accepted the call and put it on speaker. "What is it?"

"Sir, you have a meeting in twenty minutes," his secretary announced. "Mrs. Santiago will only be in town today, and she will not be pleased if you put this off."

Her father sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Yes, thank you for the reminder. I'm heading over right now." After he ended the call, he placed the test tube back in its stand. "Will the interruptions never end?" He pocketed his phone then swept out of his laboratory without a second thought. Why would he think to check the laboratory for another person? He so rarely had visitors, and the one he knew of had already left.

Elle waited after the door closed a second time and counted to twenty before she released her breath and stood. Her legs felt sore and cramped from crouching down for such a long time. She stretched her legs out for a bit then walked over to the table at which her father had worked. The test tube filled with the strange green substance stood alone in the center of the table. What was this stuff? Why was her father so obsessed with it lately? Curiosity snuck its way into her and took root. She didn't care about her father's company or taking it over, but she wanted to know more about this stuff, whatever it was, that kept him holed up in his laboratory for almost every hour he was home lately.

She found a small vial among her father's supplies. He would never notice if one went missing. Then she took the test tube and poured a little of the green substance into the vial. Once she had placed the test tube back in the stand and sealed the vial, she slipped out of the laboratory without a trace that she had ever been there.

Elle sighed as she recalled the events of that day. Her father didn't seem to take notice of anything unusual in his laboratory, for which she could breathe easier. She had hoped, though, that Danny would end up saying he was able to come to her father's Christmas party. She had a better chance of talking to him privately without it seeming suspicious if they were gone for a while at the party than at the dinner. She thought about talking to him when they exchanged their gifts, but she worried their parents would come looking for them if they took too long. She didn't want her father finding out that she had taken something from his laboratory.

When she glanced around the hall rented out for the party, Elle easily spotted her father talking with some of his business partners. She hated the little twinge of jealousy in her heart when she thought about how if Danny _had_ come, her father would probably have dragged him off and presented him to his partners as if Danny was his own son. She knew it wasn't Danny's fault, but she hated how much her father praised him. Maybe she wasn't smart like Danny, but she had her own talents. Her fingers ran over the guitar pendant Danny had given her. She practiced singing every day and tried to write her own songs, though she wasn't as skilled as Ember was. But her father looked at her hard work as her just playing around, and it hurt.

"That's a pretty necklace."

"Huh?" Elle blinked out of her thoughts as she turned her head to the speaker. She had seen the other woman before at social functions, though they had never talked to each other. What was her name? Elle racked her mind but couldn't put a name to the beautifully dark brown skinned woman. "Oh," she dropped her gaze to the pendant, "it was a Christmas present from Danny."

"Danny?" Her eyebrows lifted in surprise. "Like as in Danny Fenton?"

"Yeah. How do you know him?"

"We go to the same school. How do _you_ know him? I mean, I'm pretty sure you don't go to Casper High."

"He tutors me," she explained then held out her hand to the woman. "I'm Elle Masters."

"Valerie Gray." She shook Elle's hand.

Her name rang a bell, and it took a minute before Elle put it together. "You're the daughter of the Police Chief!"

Valerie nodded. "And you're the daughter of Vlad Masters, president of Axion Labs." She folded her arms over the soft yellow dress she wore. "So Danny helps you get good grades _and_ gets you presents?"

Elle frowned at the way Valerie said it. "I'm not using him or something," she argued, her mouth pursing thinly. "I pay him to tutor me, and he explains things until I can understand it for myself. He's way better at teaching than any of the teachers at my school. He's smart. And he's funny. And we got each other Christmas gifts. He got this," she touched the pendant, "because he knew I wanted to sing. And I got him a model rocket because he's always going off on a tangent about his interest in space."

"Whoa!" Valerie put up her hands. "Take a breath."

Elle breathed in deeply then slowly released it. "Sorry." Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. "But I'm really not using him. He's a friend, and he's really sweet."

"Oh? Do you _like_ him?" Valerie winked with a teasing grin.

"N-No! Nothing like that." Elle shook her head, her cheeks heating up even more. "I mean, he would make a good boyfriend, b-but I'm not - He's more like a big brother to me. Anyway, I'm pretty sure he likes someone else."

"Hey." Valerie nudged her lightly with an elbow. "I was only joking. Though now that you mention it, we did see Danny with this hunk of a guy." She held a hand to her chin in thought. "Well, we didn't see his face, but his body looked like he was pretty muscular."

"He never mentioned anything about actually dating someone to me!" Elle huffed, making a mental note to get more details about that from Danny. With a sigh, she hugged her arms around her waist. "But I was hoping he would turn up tonight. I wanted to talk to him about something."

Curiosity spread across Valerie's face. "Something secret? Or can you share it with me?"

Elle considered, her gaze darting around the hall. The adults were all socializing, networking or whatever. She spotted her father discussing something with Valerie's father. No one would ever notice if two teenagers disappeared for a little while. She grabbed hold of Valerie's hand then pulled her along toward one of the doors. Once they were outside in the small courtyard filled with flowers and bushes and a fountain in the center of it all, she released her hold on Valerie's hand.

"I know I should be snooping around in my father's laboratory," she explained as she took a seat on the stone bench before the fountain. Valerie joined her, leaning back on her arms as she listened. "But he's been really obsessed with working on this new project. And I, well-" She rifled through the purse she brought with her. "I kind of stole a bit of what he was experimenting on." She held up the small vial containing maybe a thumbnail amount of the green substance.

"Does the glowing mean it's radioactive?" Valerie questioned cautiously.

"I don't know."

"Is it dangerous for us to just be sitting here with it out?"

"I don't know."

"Uh, maybe you should just put that away for now."

"Okay." Elle slipped the vial back into her purse. Valerie sounded wary and uncomfortable after seeing it. She hadn't even considered it might cause side effects just being around it. Her father didn't wear any sort of protective gear when she saw him with it. "That's why I wanted to talk to Danny. He's smart, and I thought maybe he could tell me what exactly my dad is working with." She wasn't even sure why she cared, but she wanted answers.

"And what do you plan to do if he can tell you what that stuff is?"

Elle shrugged. "I just want to understand what has my dad so obsessed lately, I guess." She didn't know how to explain what she was feeling or why she needed to know. Maybe if she understood, maybe if she could contribute _something_ , she wouldn't be a complete disappointment to her father.

"Well, I hope you can figure it out." Valerie patted her on the shoulder. "Just, you know, be careful." She smiled, and after a moment, Elle nodded and smiled back.


	7. Chapter 56.5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Valerie deals with the aftermath of what happened at the police precinct.  
> Characters: Valerie, Kwan, and Elle

Valerie was _exhausted_. Her friends dropped by to give their condolences, and to be honest, she was surprised to see some of the A List could take time away from obsessing about themselves to care about someone else. Paulina practically squeezed out every last ounce of oxygen from her lungs when she hugged Valerie. Star was tamer with her hug but still surprising since Valerie was certain the blonde cheerleader hated her. Dash merely gave her a comforting pat on the shoulder. After hearing about the attack at the police precinct, they wanted to come check on her and see how she was doing. Valerie almost thought they would never leave.

Something warm touched her cheek, and Valerie jumped, sitting up a bit straighter in the plastic hospital chair. She looked up then breathed out a sigh, the tension melting out of her. "Thanks, Kwan," she said as she accepted the paper cup with warm coffee in it. Being from the hospital, she wasn't expecting it to be good, but she welcomed it after the long hours of being there.

Kwan sat down beside her with his own cup. "How are you doing?"

"Exhausted." Valerie sat back, leaning her head against the wall.

She wanted to put it all out of her mind, but she couldn't erase the memory of seeing her father crash through the wall of his office. How she was keeping things together and not simply breaking down, she wasn't sure. She wanted to cry her eyes out because being at the hospital reminded her too much of when she would come to visit her mother. Her father had always been the strong one, enveloping Valerie in his arms and letting her cry into his shoulder. Now, in the hospital bed, he looked smaller and more fragile, and Valerie hated seeing him like that. The doctor had to amputate his arm because the damage was too bad.

But now was the most painful part: the waiting. Her father was in a coma, and the doctors weren't sure when or if he would wake up again.

"They might not show it all the time, but I think they do care," Kwan said then took a sip from his coffee. From the way his face twisted, Valerie guessed it tasted poorly. "I'll try not to stay too long and exhaust you even further."

Valerie rolled her eyes. "You're okay." She smiled lightly before it faded away. "Hey, I-" She blinked when she saw the flash of someone at the door, but before she could see who it was, the person had ducked back out of the room. Then a knocked sounded at the doorway. "Come in?" Valerie said, her brow creasing as she and Kwan stared at the doorway.

"Sorry!" Elle stepped in, her cheeks a bright pink as she scratched at one cheek with a finger. "I was about to burst in here then realized that would be rude."

"Don't worry about it." Valerie shook her head as she stood. "Oh! This is my friend Kwan." She gestured to him as he got up and held out a hand to Elle.

"Nice to meet you," Elle greeted, shaking his hand. "I'm Elle."

Valerie leaned toward Kwan and put hand to the side of her mouth. "She's the daughter of Vlad Masters," she explained in a poor stage whisper.

"The attack was all over the news. My dad seemed pretty upset when he heard your dad was in the hospital." Elle chewed on her lip. "Is he going to be all right?"

"It's kind of a waiting game for now." Valerie frowned as she glanced to her father. "Hey," she turned to Elle and tapped her arm with a fist, "how is everything going with that thing you showed me?" It felt nice to have an excuse to turn the conversation away from her father's health. She couldn't do anything to help her father get better, and her frustration about that fact kept growing the more people asked about her father.

"I haven't really gotten the chance to talk with Danny yet," Elle admitted with a sigh.

"You know Danny Fenton?" Kwan's eyebrow rose in surprise.

"Yeah," Elle answered defensively, like she was preparing to fight anything bad the man might say about her friend.

"Hey, that's cool." Kwan held his hands up. "Danny's all right. I guess it's just surprising to hear about his friends outside of the other two."

"Well, there was that guy," Valerie reminded.

"Totally dating." Folding his arms, Kwan nodded firmly.

"Who exactly is this guy?" Elle folded her arms with a disapproving frown. "You mentioned him last time too."

Valerie shrugged. "Danny completely denies they're dating. And we aren't exactly friends, so I doubt he would tell us the guy's name if we asked."

Elle snapped her fingers. "I'll have to pester him about it next time I see him."

"Oh, hey!" Valerie grinned as she turned and poked at her friend's arm. "Kwan's pretty smart. Maybe he could help you out too."

"What exactly would I be helping with?" Kwan asked cautiously.

"Oh, it's nothing big." Elle shrugged. "My dad's just been obsessed with studying something lately, so I wanted to learn a little more about it. He always talks about me taking over the company one day, but then he has stuff he never tells me. He works on it in his private lab, so I don't think anyone at the company even knows what he's working on."

"Secret projects? Well, you've caught my attention." A friendly smile spread onto Kwan's face. He always enjoyed a mystery, and he was good at solving things.

"Maybe I'll take you up on that sometime."

"Yeah, anytime. I'll give you my number."

Elle nodded, and they got out their phones to exchange numbers. Afterward, she turned to Valerie. "I just wanted to stop by and checking on how you're doing. I don't want to be a bother though, so I should," she pointed toward the door with a thumb, "probably get out of your hair."

"You don't have to rush off." The other A Listers could be could be draining, though it did come as a shock that they didn't keep trying to turn the conversation back on themselves. But Elle seemed pretty down to earth and easy to talk to, so Valerie didn't mind if she stayed longer. For a little while, she could pretend her father wasn't in a coma.

Elle shook her head. "I kind of disappeared without saying anything to my dad, so I should probably get back before he decides that's an excuse to ground me or something."

"Oh, okay," Valerie responded, deflating a little.

"It was nice to meet you," Kwan said as they exchanged goodbyes. Then with a wave, Elle disappeared out the door. Kwan glanced at Valerie with a slight smirk curling upon his face. "You know the daughter of Vlad Masters?"

"We only met once," Valerie explained. "It was at the Christmas party. But you know, there is something I want you to help me with."

"Am I going to hate this?" Kwan frowned, already grimacing in preparation.

"It's about what happened to my dad." Valerie worried her lower lip for a moment before continuing. "I saw Phantom there."

Kwan stared at her for a good long moment. "You can't think that Phantom had anything to do with this."

"Do you have a better explanation?" Valerie snapped, her green eyes narrowing dangerously. "My dad flies through the wall and Phantom is standing there in the hole left by him. How else would you explain what happened?"

"I-" Conflict played in Kwan's aqua green eyes. "I don't know. But Phantom always tried to help people. No matter what that dumb newscaster says. Phantom's not a bad guy. And how would he even have done that? Phantom could drag something through a solid wall. But we've never heard of him blasting someone through a wall like what happened with your dad. It just doesn't sound like Phantom."

"Well, I need to find out answers. So are you going to help me with doing that or not?"

Kwan sighed in defeat. "All right. I'll help."


	8. Chapter 58.5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kwan helps Valerie out with a little project.

Kwan rolled his eyes after reading the multiple texts from Dash. He loved his friend, but when it came to Phantom, Dash could go overboard with excitement. Dash wouldn't stop talking about how _Phantom_ showed up at his house and wanted _his_ help proving his innocence. He even got Phantom's autograph. It would be a lie if Kwan said he wasn't even a little bit jealous. He wished he had been there to see Phantom in person with Dash.

"This is awesome!" Valerie's mouth stretched into a wide grin as she turned to look at her backside in the mirror on his closet door. "I can't believe you got this done so quickly."

Kwan laughed, pushing his phone to the side. "You sounded like you wanted it right away, so I tried to get it done as soon as possible." He smiled softly as he watched Valerie, who came over to try on the suit he made for her. It was black, for stealth reasons, with some patterns in red, for a splash of color. It had a helmet too, but Valerie left it off for now. "Everything fits all right?"

"Perfectly!" Valerie walked over to his desk. "So," she leaned back against the desk and smiled innocently, "what other toys do you have for me?"

"Is that all I'm good for?" Kwan teased with a shake of his head. The suit looked good on Valerie, and he could imagine people mistaking her for a superhero.

Valerie kicked his shin lightly, frowning at him. "You know that's not true."

"I know." Kwan managed a small, wincing smile. "Hard to break habits though, you know?"

Valerie dropped a hand onto his head, her fingers playing in his raven hair. "I wouldn't be asking you to do all this if it wasn't about my dad. He got hurt and can't tell me anything. I need to do this to find out answers."

"I get it. If anything like that had happened to you or Dash, I would be doing whatever I could to find out the truth." Kwan tapped his fingers on the desk. "So how is it with your aunt and uncle?"

"Ugh, their place is so cramped! And with my cousins-" Valerie shook her head. "The only good thing is that I get to stay at Casper High. Though I'm guessing the rest of the A List will be lobbying to have me kicked out. Can't have poor little Valerie living in Emerston cramping their style."

"That's not-" Kwan bit back his argument when Valerie glared at him. "Okay. But I'll still be with you. And Dash. And I know there's always been tension there, but I think Paulina and Star do care about you, even if they have a weird way of showing it."

Valerie snorted, but she had a hint of a smile. Then she bopped him on the head, and Kwan winced, pretending it hurt as he rubbed his head. "Don't try changing the topic. I need something to fight - I mean, in case it comes to a fight, I want to be prepared."

"I'm just worried you're going into this with your mind already made up that Phantom's the villain."

"He was standing right there after my father was blasted through the wall," Valerie argued, one hand clenching into a fist. When she caught his frown, she tried to relax. "He did help when you got shot though," she mumbled as she glanced away. "I suppose it's only fair that I give him the chance to speak. But I'm not going to be all star struck about him like Dash."

Kwan chuckled as he stood. "Yeah, Dash gets pretty crazy. Okay. I don't know if this will actually work." He walked over to his closet. "I found some interesting articles on ghosts, but they're pretty old and took a while to dig up. But if the theories are right, this," he dug into the back of his closet, hidden behind some clothes, then brought out a rifle like weapon, " _should_ probably do the trick of, at the very least, neutralizing his powers. It shoots out an electric pulse." In theory, that was how it worked, but he wasn't given much time to build it and double check everything. He hoped Valerie never had a reason to test out the rifle because there was the slightest possibility it-

Valerie grabbed the weapon from him then held it like she was taking aim at the window, feeling out the weight of it. "Dad never liked the idea of me using guns." She swung it around, the strap crossing in front of her while the rifle rested against her back. "But I think I can get the hang of it."

"Right." Kwan bit back a laugh at the rather Valerie response. "So if you're going up against someone who can fly, I thought you could use this too." He retrieved something else from his closet.

"And that's supposed to help me fly?" Valerie folded her arms as she lifted an eyebrow, seeming completely unimpressed.

His mouth curled in a small smirk as Kwan tossed the rectangular device to the ground. As it fell, it expanded, widening and lengthening to support a person standing on it. It hovered in the air before them. "I think it'll be a big help."

"Oh, that is sweet!" Valerie climbed onto the hover board, shakily. Her arms flailed out to the side until she balanced herself and stood steadily on it. "This might take some getting used to, but I think I can handle it."

"I probably could have made it better," Kwan rubbed at the back of his neck, dropping his gaze to the floor, "if I had more time. And there's no guarantee the rifle will even work. If I could tinker with it all a little-"

Valerie slapped her hands to his cheeks then forced him to lift his head. "I really appreciate you doing all of this for me." She kissed him on the forehead before pulling away. "I should probably go though." She sighed, hopping off the hover board, which folded up about the same size of a laptop, easy enough to carry in her bag. "There's the stupid curfew, and my aunt will chew me out if I don't get back by then."

Kwan turned his back to her so Valerie would have some privacy as she changed back into her regular clothes. "So you're really doing this?" Even if they had discussed it, he thought it was all talk and his friend wouldn't actually go after Phantom like she kept saying.

After some rustling of clothing, Valerie wrapped her arms around his neck, having to stand on tip toes to reach. "Phantom was there. He saw what happened. I have to talk to him about it." She pulled away and grabbed her things. "I'll tell you about it when I manage to catch, uh, up with him."

"Just, you know, be careful." Kwan followed Valerie to the window in his room. "I don't want you to get hurt."

"It's going to be okay." Valerie easily swung herself out the window and caught hold of the drain pipe running next to it. "Trust me. I can take care of myself."

"I have no doubts about that." Kwan leaned on the windowsill as he watched her climb down the drain pipe to the ground. He knew she could hold her own in a fight against humans. But a ghost? He worried if it came to fighting, Valerie might chew off more than she could handle. Once she was on the ground, Valerie waved up to him then turned to head to her relative's apartment. After waving goodbye, Kwan pulled away from the window and closed it. Before he could collapse onto his bed to relax for the rest of the night, he heard his phone buzz. He picked it up from his desk, expecting another message from Dash. To his surprise, Valerie's friend Elle was calling him. "Hello?"

"What do you know about ectoplasm?" Elle asked with no preamble.

Kwan blinked a few times as he sat at his desk. "What exactly do you want to know?"


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After being woken up by a call, Dan pays a visit to an old friend.

Dan leaned over, glancing through the window by the front door to get a peek inside the average two story home, but he couldn't see much with only a small slit parting the curtains. With a sigh, he pulled back to stand up straight and rang the doorbell. Two women walked past the house, one pushing a baby stroller as they chatted. Dan tugged the hood of his sweatshirt down as he bowed his head, hoping to keep from being seen.

"It's been a while." The door opened to reveal the middle aged man with balding hair and a gut hanging over his belt.

Dan smiled despite the stern glare the man gave him. "Only a couple of years." He shrugged easily but felt anxious about getting inside and out of sight of the mundane neighbors. When the man stepped aside, Dan hastily entered his house. "Nice place you got here." He peeked into the front room, noting the nice furniture, antiques from the look of them.

"I guess I've done some fixing up since you were last here." The man closed the door then led the way into the front room.

Dan dropped onto the couch and nearly got his feet onto the coffee table before the man smacked his leg. He settled for keeping his feet on the floor. "You don't usually call me over. What's this about, Lancer?" He leaned back on the couch, throwing his arms over the back of it as he gazed around the front room. It was far better than he could do with interior design, especially with the mismatch of antiques from various eras and cultures. But Lancer always had a knack for this kind of thing.

Sighing like the weight of the world rested on this shoulders, Lancer sat opposite him on a cozy chair with a floral pattern. "Do you think I don't take notice of your activities?"

Dan gulped when he saw the teacher giving him the disapproving glare. It made him far more self conscious then he cared to admit. "What activities are you referring to?" He shrugged like he didn't have the faintest idea what the man meant.

Lancer tilted his head forward a touch with a severe frown. It was his "don't insult my intelligence" glare. "You think I haven't realized you've stopped killing while in town? Or that you seem to have taken interest in our new town hero?"

"The media seems to want everyone thinking otherwise about Phantom."

"Don't they always?" Lancer's mouth quirked, a sly smirk curling on his face. "But I also know how _you_ are." His expression turned stony. "You idolize-"

"Hey, no!" Dan sat up, shaking a hand before him to stop the man from continuing. "Okay. Maybe I do idolize him as a hero. He's got that good sense of morality and all that that I could never have. And he's quite sexy in his costume." He grinned. "But I'm not rushing things. And I'm being careful not to scare him off."

"Dan." Lancer sighed, leaning his head into his hand as he rubbed at his forehead. "You may be overlooking one big point here."

"His age." Dan nodded as he folded his arms. "I haven't been ignoring that. You _know_ I wouldn't." He glared from under his hood. After a tense moment, he leaned back against the couch. "Anyway, I'm leaving it up to him. See? Not being pushy. If he's interested, he can make the first move, and we can figure things out from there."

Lancer lifted his eyebrows. "You really like him, don't you?"

Dan frowned as he shifted awkwardly. "You don't have to sound so surprised."

"I know you've liked people in the past. But this is the first time I've seen you this serious about someone." Lancer swiped a hand over his bald head. "I suppose I was worrying over nothing then."

A fond smile spread over Dan's face as he lowered his gaze. "It's nice having someone worrying about you though." He scratched at his cheek, which was warm with embarrassment. "So," he said slowly, glancing back to the teacher, "I don't suppose you have any insight on clearing Phantom's name after that whole thing at the precinct, hm?"

"I will leave that kind of work to you, so long as you keep up this no killing streak you've been on."

Dan sighed, disappointed he wouldn't get any advice from the man, but he hesitated to stand. "Was that all? You just wanted to be a busybody and talk about my love life?"

"I know how you get when things go sour." Lancer frowned, but his gaze filled with concern.

"I think I'll be all right this time." Dan slapped his thighs before standing. "I guess I should get out of you-" He paused, gaze drifting to the man's balding head. "Well," he cracked a grin, "you know the saying."

"Yes, I'm aware of it." Lancer didn't look remotely amused.

"Right. Well." Dan bobbed his head as he took a step to leave. His leg bumped the corner of the table, jostling the items on it. He reacted quickly, snatching up the blue bottle that nearly fell and crashed to the floor. Holding it up, he gave the bottle a closer look. It had a rounded base and a long thin neck and marked with pink accents. "This seems kind of out of place." He glanced questioningly to the teacher. The bottle was... odd to him, and not just in design.

"Ah, my sister." Lancer smiled fondly as he took the bottle from Dan. "She's off on another one of her trips abroad. She sent this to me as a Christmas gift. I thought it might look nice in my office."

"Sure," Dan agreed, though if it was given to him, he thought he probably would throw it out. Or lock it up someplace where no one would ever find it. "Your sister always did have a pretty unique sense of style." He never had the pleasure of meeting Lancer's sister, though he had seen pictures of the two siblings. They looked remarkably alike. "Well then." He slapped a hand to the teacher's shoulder. "Take care."

"Dan." Lancer's voice made the mercenary stop. "You know you can always come to me to talk, about anything."

Dan frowned, staring off to the side, then turned his gaze back to Lancer. "I know." He offered a small smile before he opened the front door and left the house. Even though Lancer offered to listen to his problems, Dan rarely took him up on it. He could count the number of people who truly cared for him on one hand, though he hoped Phantom and that teen with the dog could be included. Shoving his hands into his pockets as he walked away from the house, he frowned. Eventually, he would have to tell them more about himself, and he wasn't sure if he was ready for that.


	10. Chapter 61.5A

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kwan pays a visit to the Masters' house after receiving a call from Elle.

"Is it really okay for us to be down here?" Kwan asked as he glanced around in uncertainty. The laboratory was beyond what he imagined. When Dash told him his class took a trip to Axion Labs for a tour, Kwan was immediately jealous since he had always wanted to see all the various projects they worked on there. If he had ended up in the same class, he could have joined them.

"Oh sure." Elle waved off his concern as she walked over to a fridge containing various samples. "My dad is busy in a meeting or something right now, so he won't know we're down here."

"So, uh," Kwan raked a hand through his hair, still nervous about this whole thing, "you sneak into your dad's lab a lot?"

Elle tilted her head in thought. Her raven hair was tied back in a high ponytail, the ends brushing her shoulder with the action. "I didn't used to, but recently, I've been coming down here to investigate what's gotten my dad's attention."

"Which brings us to the whole ectoplasm thing you asked about over the phone?" Kwan worried a bit about her inquiry. When Valerie asked for his help, Kwan had to do research about ghosts, which provided him mostly with only theories and nothing concrete. Many of the articles were at least twenty years old. Building the rifle for Valerie, he took a few liberties, throwing in a few of his own ideas to create it. He could have done a better job with more time, such as making it functional, but Valerie wasn't exactly patient when she wanted to get something done.

"Yeah." Elle frowned, staring in concern at the fridge before her. "Remember how I told you I took some of that sample my dad had?" She glanced toward Kwan, waiting for him to nod. "Well," she pulled open the door to show off five shelves with at least a dozen sample vials on each one, "he seems to have gotten more."

"That is a lot of ectoplasm," Kwan mumbled, aqua green eyes widening as he stared at the samples. "Is it all from the same source?"

"Well, my dad codes all his notes, so I can't really read anything about what he's been doing." Elle shrugged. "But I did overhear him say the ectoplasm came from Phantom. I don't really know anything about ectoplasm though. Do you?" She turned to him with a hopeful expression.

Kwan rubbed at the back of his neck. "From what I've read, ectoplasm is supposed to be what make up ghost. One theory is that there's ectoplasm all around us, but it's invisible and hard to extract in any way, which is why it's hard to get any natural ectoplasm to study. When a person dies, usually from tragedy or with some kind of regret, those strong thoughts remain and latch onto the ectoplasm to develop a ghost. Sometimes they don't take full form, but the really strong thoughts end up taking on a form like Phantom did."

"So ectoplasm is basically like their blood?" Elle's nose wrinkled as she looked back at the samples. "What could my dad be doing with Phantom's blood? And why did he make more of it?"

Kwan shrugged. "Maybe he just wants to study it? I read a report that suggested ectoplasm could be a useful energy source, but it would need proper studies and testing to ensure it wouldn't have harmful effects on humans, especially with prolonged usage."

"You sure seem to know a lot about it." Elle eyed him, curiosity passing through her blue eyes.

"Ah, well, you know," Kwan laughed awkwardly, "I had a project to do, so I needed to read up on it."

Elle nodded, apparently buying the explanation. Then she sighed, her shoulders slumping. "I guess maybe I was getting worried for no reason. I," she turned her gaze away as she tugged on an earlobe, "feared maybe he was thinking of doing something bad to Phantom. But that's crazy, right? Why would he do that after he tried to help Phantom when Officer Walker tried to arrest him?"

"Hey," Kwan placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, "I'm sure it's nothing like you're imagining. It's probably just some innocent research."

A crease of worry remained in Elle's brow. "I guess," she agreed but hardly sounded convinced. She chewed on her lower lip as she rocked slowly on her heels. "Thanks for coming over and all. Though I guess this wasn't really some big spectacular discovery."

Kwan agreed they probably could have just had the talk over the phone, but Elle had insisted he stop by to check on things for himself. He threw on a cheerful grin. "Hey, it's all right. I mean, how often do I really get the chance to actually see the Masters' house?" He doubted he would ever get another chance to look around at Mr. Masters' personal laboratory.

"We're friends, though, right?" Elle managed to smile at her question. "You can come over again, if you want."

Kwan returned the smile with a nod. "Yeah, sure. Anytime you want."

They stared at each other, the moment leaning toward awkward as time stretched on, but then Elle winced. "We probably should go before my dad does realize we came in here." After she closed up the fridge, she checked to make sure everything was left as it was when they entered the laboratory.

Kwan took the opportunity to look once more around the laboratory and try to memorize everything he could about it for later. "What's that?" He pointed to some kind of containment unit nearby, which sparked with electricity at a nauseating rate. If he got stuck staring at that for too long, he could imagine the massive headache he would end up having.

"I'm not really sure." Elle shrugged then nudged him toward the exit. "A different research project on better energy sources?" She closed the door behind them then led the way back toward the front hall of her house. "I wish my dad would let me transfer over to your school. I'd probably have so much more fun hanging out with you all."

"But you go to that elite school, right? It's only for, like, children of the super rich."

Elle shrugged like it wasn't anything to brag about. "I've always felt out of place there. My dad just wants me going there because it's supposed to help prepare me to take over his company or something. But I just feel like I'm a major let down to him." She sighed, and Kwan glanced away, understanding the feeling. "If I was smart like you and Danny, maybe he wouldn't be so distant with me."

Kwan choked then shook his head. "I'm not that smart."

Elle rolled her eyes with a light laugh. "Were you and Danny hatched from the same egg or something? Because Danny says the same when people tell him he's smart."

The corner of his mouth twitched, but being compared to Danny was odd. Kwan was normally compared to the other jocks and always had to listen to people talk about how different he was from the rest. "I guess there are worst people to be compared to."

Elle nodded agreement. Then she stopped, catching Kwan's arm before he could continue walking down the hall. He realized the reason a second later when someone in the room they were about to pass spoke.

"Don't be ridiculous!" The man laughed, the hint of tension in his voice easy to miss. "I never loved her."

Beside him, Elle tensed, her eyes widening. Kwan touched her arm, but she flinched away from like his touch burned her. He couldn't describe the hurt on her face, and he could never imagine the pain of hearing a parent say something like that.

"May-Maybe it's not-"

Elle twisted around and darted down the hall before Kwan could finish.

"Elle!" Kwan shouted as he chased after her. He cursed the man, presumably Elle's father based on her reaction, for saying such a thing where his daughter could overhear him. Elle refused to stop at his calls. She was fast. Kwan was definitely impressed. If she didn't play any sports, Kwan could definitely see her doing well in track and field.

The chase led right back into the laboratory. Kwan heard the crash of shattering glass before he arrived. He skidded to a halt after entering the laboratory, watching in horror as Elle smashed the vials of ectoplasm samples. Her hands had cuts on them from where the glass broke and cut into her palms. Beads of deep red blood welled from the cuts, bleeding through the ectoplasm coating her hands. But Elle was numb to the pain in her anger fueled by hurt.

"Elle!" Kwan shouted, but she ignored him in favor of grabbing a wrench to continue smashing whatever she could in the laboratory. The wrench sang through the air and clanged against the metal top of a table. She looked like the heroine of a zombie flick with the cuts and the ectoplasm covering her as she fought off the undead. Kwan crossed the laboratory to stop her before she could do anymore damage, to the laboratory and to herself. The wrench flew in his direction. Kwan stumbled back to avoid receiving a nasty smack to the head. The tip of it clipped his chin. He gasped, clapping his hands to his chin as it throbbed.

Elle released a guttural shout full of pain and anguish, years of feeling inadequate and like a disappointment filling her voice. Kwan gulped, panic surging through him as he watched, frozen in place. The wrench slam into the containment unit. The glass shattered, raining onto the laboratory floor. A pulse of energy exploded from the containment unit, knocking Kwan off his feet. Elle's shrieks seemed to come from everywhere as electricity bombarded her body. Kwan's heart leaped into his throat, his eyes growing impossibly wide, as he watched the scene. He swore at some points he could see her skeleton shining through her skin.

"What are you - What is - ELLE!"

Kwan twisted his head around. Then he scrambled away with a startled shout when he saw the man who stormed into the laboratory. His skin was unnaturally blue, his eyes glared red, and his black hair was pulled back in a low ponytail. Most disturbing, however, was the way his skin was eaten away on one side, showing off muscle and his teeth through the holes in his cheek. Again, Kwan had the terrible thought of being trapped in a movie about the zombie apocalypse.

The red eyes snapped his way, and Kwan tried to stop shouting but the murderous glare only made him shout louder. The man breathed in deeply and released it slowly, his appearance shifting. His skin became pale, and the color faded from his hair, turning it gray. Then he swept past Kwan like the teenager wasn't even there and stormed toward Elle as the flickers of electricity died. Elle dropped to her knees as another body hit the floor by her. The man caught Elle in his arms as she pitched forward.

A hand slapped over his mouth, silencing his shouts. Kwan tilted his head back and stared up at the other man who had entered the laboratory.

"If you stop shouting, I'll remove my hand."

Kwan gulped but nodded. Once the hand fell away, he licked his lips, his heart still pounding. "You're Danny's dad, aren't you?"

"You know my Danny boy?" The man grinned widely. Despite the large difference in body sizes, Kwan could see a lot of Danny in the man's expression.

"Uh, well, sort of." Kwan's gaze drifted back to where Elle was. "What exactly is going on? And is that Mr. Technus?" He squinted at the body lying on the ground, which hadn't moved since the electric show had stopped. Everything happened so quickly it left his mind spinning and trying to catch up and put it all together.

"I," said the man holding Elle, "was hoping you could tell us what happened." His eyes flashed red again, and Kwan stopped breathing, fearing the man would launch at him ready to rip out his throat if he said the wrong thing.

"I-" Kwan shook his head, not even sure where to begin explaining.

A flash of green filled the laboratory. The man flew back, slamming into the wall where the containment unit stood. He crumpled to the floor with a grunt and groan of pain. The color drained from Kwan's face, and his gaze remained focused on something else. Someone else to be accurate. Elle stood where she had fallen. Her eyes glowed green like radioactive waste, though calling it ectoplasm green was probably more accurate. Her hair had fallen loose from the ponytail and spilled over her shoulders in a cascade of snow white. Her skin resembled the man who had entered the laboratory first: a strange blue hue.

Kwan swallowed thickly as he watched wisps of green lazily rising from her. His hands shook as he dug out his phone and punched in a quick text to Valerie.

[ _SOS. Masters' house_.]


	11. Chapter 61.5B

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Feeling useless to help was the worst thing she could think of, but Valerie wasn't going to just sit there and do nothing.

Valerie stretched as she stepped out of the Nasty Burger. It was nice having the chance to get out of her aunt and uncle's place and spend some time with her friends. She encouraged them to talk about whatever was going on with them, like they normally would, to help keep her mind off her father. She was worried sick about his health, but she could nothing to help him get better, a fact which frustrated her to no end. She _hated_ having to sit back and do nothing.

Hearing her friends talk didn't help distract her mind as much as she hoped. Valerie barely heard anything they said. She kept flashing back to right before she joined up with them. Danny Fenton was Phantom! She shot glances toward the table where Danny sat with his friends until they all got up and left. It was unbelievable. If someone came up and told her Danny was Phantom, she would call them crazy. Danny was a dorky little klutz but a genuinely decent guy. She tried to imagine him at the Nasty Burger the night Poindexter went crazy, but she just couldn't put him in Phantom's place. She couldn't picture him standing up to disarm the other teenager so the police could enter and get everyone to safety and the medical team get to Kwan after he was shot. They seemed like two completely different people. But she had to wonder: which was the real him and which was the act?

"Hey, Valerie!" Dash caught up to her after she left the Nasty Burger.

"What is it, Dash?" Valerie frowned as she tugged on the strap of her bag. "I should really get back before it gets dark out. You know, stupid curfew and all." She rolled her eyes.

"Ah, right." Dash looked away, rubbing at the back of his neck. "Well, I know they've been saying that what happened was all Phantom's fault. And well," he turned back to her, his lips pressing thing, "it's none of my business if you want to hate him or blame him. But I thought you should see something."

An eyebrow arched upward as Valerie watched the jock fumble with his phone. What did Dash have planned? He flipped the screen toward her as a video played. She watched it, silently taking in everything said by the costumed person on screen. It didn't differ much from what Phantom had told her only a few hours earlier. It came as no big surprise to her that Dash was eager to trust in Phantom's story. He could try to hide it, but Dash was a huge fan of the ghostly hero. She smiled inwardly when she heard Dash saying they needed evidence before going public with the story. Some might consider him just another dumb jock, but Dash had some smart points.

"You are such a fan boy," Valerie said teasingly after the video finished.

Dash's cheeks tinged pink. "I'm not! I mean - Look. Obviously, you don't have to believe anything he says. I wouldn't blame you for holding a grudge. You were there and all." He shrugged. "But I just thought you should hear things from him."

Valerie shook her head. "Thanks. I have some ideas about finding out what really happened."

Dash grinned crookedly. "You have your dad's detective skills. I'm sure you'll find the truth in no time." He patted her on the shoulder then turned to head to his car.

Valerie watched him go, thinking he put too much faith in her abilities. Then she shook her head. This was one mystery she _had_ to solve. With that determination in mind, she walked around to the back of the Nasty Burger. As she turned the corner, her phone buzzed with an incoming text message. She pulled her phone out to check it. Panic surged through her when she read the short message from Kwan. He wouldn't send an SOS if something seriously bad wasn't happening. She could only think of one reason for such a message: ghosts.

Valerie jumped on top of the dumpster behind the Nasty Burger. Then she grabbed hold of the drain pipe and scaled up to the roof. When she was at the top, she hurriedly changed into her suit. She left her rifle stowed away on the rooftop when she arrived at the Nasty Burger so no one would find it. Before she put on her helmet, she stopped to consider something. Pulling out her phone, she typed a message to Danny. If ghosts were involved, Phantom should definitely be there.

[ _Phantom. Masters. NOW!_ ]

Once that was done, she stuffed her phone back into her bag. She yanked on the helmet then tossed her bag over her shoulder. The hover board unfolded when she dropped it before her. Jumping onto it, she sped off toward the Masters' house. Her heart quickened, the pounding beat filling her ears. What was happening there? Was anyone badly injured? What kind of ghost would she face off against? The questions flew through her mind, and she pushed the hover board to go faster.

When she arrived, Valerie crashed through the big picture window in the front room of the house. She winced at the damage as she hopped off the hover board. She felt about it, but if her friends were in danger, she couldn't fret over a little destruction to the house. The hover board folded up again. She grabbed it then jogged out of the front room.

"Hello?" Valerie called out, walking down the unfamiliar hall. If she had the time to stop and look around, she would have marveled over grandness of the house. The emptiness of the home, however, was eerie. Where was everyone? No one had responded to her call.

A crash came from somewhere below her. Valerie yanked open every door she could find, searching for the one leading into the basement. How many doors did this place have? Her frustration grew until she opened a door to find stairs leading down behind it. She raced down the stairs, her hand reaching for the rifle. When she hit the bottom of the stairs, she found a chaotic scene before her. Impressive equipment and inventions filled the laboratory, but much of it was now smashed up with parts dangling by wires nearly about to snap and glass shards scattered over the floor.

Valerie scanned the room for her friends. When she glanced to her left, she stumbled back to avoid the fist she saw flying at her head. Instinctively, she thrust a fist right under the arm, striking the armpit and earning a gasp from her attacker. Then she pivoted and brought up her knee to slam it into the person's chest. She didn't even think, running purely on years of practicing karate. She twisted again, spinning herself behind her assailant as she readied her hand to strike at the back of their neck.

"Stop!"

Her hand halted an inch from the person's neck when she heard the furious shout. Valerie blinked as she glanced toward the source, finding a ragged looking man with his silvery hair loose from a ponytail and his clothes scorch marked and torn. He had taken quite the beating before her arrival.

"Look out!" This time, the shout came from a familiar source.

Valerie snapped her head around, and her eyes widened frightfully as a bright green ball of energy rushed toward her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is late! Life kind of dragged me away for the day.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elle feels a little restless after everything that happened.

After the day she had, Elle was exhausted, and her skin still tingled slightly with the pins and needles feeling she got when her leg would fall asleep. She knew she should do as everyone told her and go to rest in her room, but she didn't feel like she would be able to rest peacefully. She stared at her hands like they had turned into some strange new appendages. What was she anymore? She could no longer call herself one hundred percent human. Now she was just a freak.

With a sigh, she walked down the stairs to the laboratory, not caring if her father yelled at her for being there. If he truly wanted her forgiveness, he would have to talk to her and treat her like her own person. She stepped into the laboratory, and regret washed over her when she saw the destruction. All of _this_ was her fault. It was strange how four words could set off a storm of rage inside her. She never realized how much she was holding in until it all exploded out of her.

"Let me at him!"

Elle shrank back when she heard the garbled shout. Her father and Mr. Fenton held down the weakly struggling man. Or was he a ghost? Elle felt her head spinning trying to remember everything when it all happened in a blur to her. Mr. Fenton showed the same gentleness when dealing with the man that he had shown her. Her father was more hesitant about dealing with the man, allowing Mr. Fenton do more of the work in strapping down the man so he wouldn't flail around too much and hurt himself, or them.

"What were you thinking?" Mr. Fenton demanded once the man was secured.

"I didn't intend _this_ ," her father snapped, gesturing with both hands to the man strapped to the table, "to happen." He sighed as he raked a hand through his silver hair. "He was in a coma, and I thought maybe I could help him. I wanted to wake him up. Imagine what that would do for the world? If we had a way to help wake up coma patients?" He frowned miserably as he stared at the man on the table. "But it was all a failure. I don't even know what went wrong. I truly thought it would work. Then things went up in smoke. Next thing I knew, I had this technopathic ghost out to kill me."

"You should have known better than that." Mr. Fenton glared, jabbing a finger into her father's chest. "And you should have known Maddie and I would never abandon you after the accident."

"And I couldn't allow my existence to put your lives at risk," her father countered, the two men glaring at each other. Then Mr. Fenton suddenly pulled her father to him, enclosing him in a tight bear hug.

"We would have figured out a way to keep all of us safe." Mr. Fenton sighed like he was letting go of the long years without his best friend. "Maddie and I love you like family. We don't care what that accident did to you, but we'll help you out any way we can if you really want to find a way to reverse it."

Elle hugged her arms around her body. They were going to look for a way to fix her father? She frowned, hating herself for wanting them to fail in that endeavor. She just didn't want to be alone being this weird half ghost-half human freak. But she wasn't as bad off as her father. She didn't have look in the mirror and see her face half eaten away.

"You should have told us," Elle blurted out when her father and Mr. Fenton pulled away from their embrace. She gulped when both men turned the gazes onto her. The man on the table mumbled incoherent threats, his hands twitching where they were pinned down at his sides.

"Elle!" Her father's eyes widened, startled by her presence in the laboratory. "You should be resting."

"I will." Elle rubbed at her arm, turning her gaze briefly away. "In a little while. But you should have told us the truth!" she said firmly as she glared back at her father. "Did you think I wouldn't love you if I knew what your real face looked like?"

Her father frowned, lowering his gaze. "I'd been hiding it for so long. It was just easier to continue that then face possible rejection from my own daughter. I didn't think I could bear that."

"But you could bear forcing me into the mold you set out for me?" Elle folded her arms, tapping her foot as she waited for his answer.

"I apologize. I unwittingly became the villain. I want to make that up to you."

Elle was almost tempted to forgive when she saw the misery in his eyes. But that was too easy. She refused to let him get her forgiveness just like that. Then her eyes lit up as an idea came to her. "Does that mean you might be willing to let me switch to a different school?" She bit her lip, hoping and praying he would say yes.

Her father hesitated, even after Mr. Fenton nudged him in the back. "I'll consider it." He winced when Elle pouted. "Can we have this talk a little later? We should really focus on helping Mr. Technus. If we get distracted, we might make things worse."

Elle frowned, but she supposed her father had a point. It seemed Mr. Technus was far worse off than she was. At least, she was stable and not screaming deadly harm to anyone. "Can I at least stay and watch?"

"You should really rest-" Her father sighed in defeat. "All right. I suppose you can stay." He held up a finger before Elle could cheer in victory. "But you have to promise not to get in the way. If we tell you to do something, you must do it. As a safety precaution for all of us."

Elle bobbed her head. "Promise!" It was the first time her father actually agreed to let her watch him work. She found a suitable place to sit and watch the two men. In about eight minutes, the exhaustion finally caught up to her, and she fell asleep where she sat.


	13. Chapter 64.5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Valerie discovers Elle is going to be attending Casper High.

"Elle!" Valerie gasped in surprise when she saw Elle in the halls of Casper High. She walked up to the other woman and hugged her. Since the whole crazy thing happened at Elle's house, Valerie hadn't had the chance to talk to her. She was worried about how her friend was doing, but she couldn't actually ask about it. It frustrated her, but Elle didn't know that she was there when the incident happened. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm going to be going here at the start of next semester," Elle announced.

"That's great!" Valerie glanced upward as a man came to stand behind Elle. She gulped seeing Elle's father, recalling the terrifying appearance of his real face when he lost control. "I guess things are working out better now."

Elle looked up at her father then nodded. "Well, not perfectly. We had a big blow out over the break." She shrugged like it was a common thing among families. It was. Families fought because no family was perfect and got along one hundred percent of the time. But Valerie knew their "blow out" was something more than the common butting heads fight most families experienced. "But we're working to make things better now."

"Yes," Mr. Masters agreed, "I've come to realize the errors of my way. I'm trying to listen more to Elle instead of pushing my ideas onto her." He placed a hand on his daughter's shoulder and smiled down at her. "We should be going though. You might be transferring to a new school, but I still expect you to finish out the remainder of the semester at your current school."

Elle groaned, her shoulders drooping. Valerie didn't blame her. Elle's school sounded like the super elite private school only the children of the wealthy could afford to attend. Valerie wouldn't want to be in her place and was glad her father never thought of sending her to a private school. She liked Casper High, even with the struggle of maintaining popularity.

"I guess I'll see you at the start of next semester." Elle smiled again, bright and happy. The change in schools seemed like it would definitely do her good, and with teachers like Lancer, she would be able to get help wherever she was struggling.

Valerie nodded. "See you then."

Elle waved then trotted down the hall toward the exit. Her father, however, lingered behind. He watched his daughter for a brief moment before turning to Valerie.

"Before I go, I wanted to thank you." Mr. Masters shook his head before Valerie could say anything. "I won't tell anyone about you running around dressed up like some vigilante. And I'll overlook you breaking one of our windows. But you had a hand in helping to save my daughter, as well as fixing our relationship, so thank you."

"I don't know what-"

"Let's not play that game. I'm quite capable of piecing things together." Mr. Masters frowned like it insulted him for her to deny the truth. Valerie gulped, nervous about the man knowing her identity. "And that weapon of yours was clearly designed based off an old schematics the Fentons and I included in one of our research papers. They are easy enough to find online if you look for them. I do caution being careful of doing such things though. You don't want to draw the attention of the Guys in White."

"I'll be careful next time then." Valerie shrugged it off, but she made a note to warn Kwan about it later. She didn't want her friend in danger because of her.

"I was thinking perhaps I could aid you in that department."

Valerie narrowed her eyes. She didn't know the man well, but she didn't approve of the way he had treated Elle. Maybe things were getting better for the two of them, but Valerie was still hesitant to trust Mr. Masters. "In what way?"

"That rifle isn't very easy to carry with you at all times. I could provide you with some weapons that you will be better able to conceal on your person. Consider it part of my thanks for your help."

It was tempting. After all, Mr. Masters had a point. She couldn't run around carrying the rifle with her in case something came up. Though, since Phantom was no longer her enemy, she didn't necessarily need a weapon to combat a ghost. On the other hand, if she ran into trouble, it would be good to have something to use to defend herself. She was confident in her karate skills, but her opponents might be armed.

"I might have some ideas," Valerie said slowly. "But nothing that can kill. I just need to defend myself."

Mr. Masters nodded. "Of course."

Valerie dug into her bag and retrieved a pen and paper. She jotted down an idea she had for what she wanted, and one or two suggestions, including her cell number so the man could contact her. Then she handed the paper over to him. Mr. Masters glanced over what she had written. With a nod, he folded up the paper then stuffed it into his jacket pocket.

"I believe that should be no problem. Give me some time, and I should have something ready for you." After a quick farewell, Mr. Masters walked toward the school's exit to join his daughter at their car.

Was trusting Mr. Masters the smartest plan? Valerie didn't have the time to stand there and debate it. She hurried off down the hall before she was late for her first class.

 

"Who was that you were talking to this morning?" Star questioned when Valerie joined her friends at their table for lunch. Her tone wasn't accusatory or tinged with disgust. She was merely curious.

"My dad was invited to the Masters' Christmas party." Valerie shrugged, poking at her salad with a plastic spork. "Turns out his daughter is going to be coming here."

"Didn't we see her talking to Fenton earlier?" Dash lifted his eyebrow.

"Well, Danny does tutor her," Kwan said, frowning at his friend, almost like he was daring Dash to say Elle could never be in the A List if she hung out with losers. "And going to a new school, it's good for her to know some people rather than being completely alone."

"Did you see her earrings though?" Paulina asked, more to Star and Valerie than the guys. "They were so cute! You should have brought her over. I would have liked to ask where she got them."

"We could have gone shopping this weekend," Star said. "Maybe I could have found something cute like that for my date."

"Oh!" Paulina grinned. "They would look great with that dress you have. The one with the flowers along the hem."

Valerie held back a laugh as the two women broke away into their own little conversation about what Star should wear for her date. While they were distracted, Valerie turned to Kwan. "I really appreciate you building me stuff," she told him, keeping her voice low.

"Did you need something else?" Kwan replied in the same quiet voice as he leaned toward her.

Valerie shook her head. "No, but after hearing about the Guys in White, I'm worried about what they might do if they found out you were looking into all that ghost stuff, especially on how to make something like that rifle."

Kwan frowned. "I never even thought about that."

"We didn't know about them," Valerie argued. "I just want you to be careful from now on. We don't want them looking at us too closely. Especially since Officer Walker seems to be a part of them. If he suspects you're help me to find out what happened to my dad, he might try something." She didn't even want to think about what that something might be, but Officer Walker _had_ put her father in the hospital. A thought came to her, and she chewed on her lower lip in debate of saying anything. "You don't think they'll try to do something to my dad, do you?"

Kwan hesitated to answer. "I don't think they have much reason to do anything. Your dad's in a coma for right now. They have no idea when he might regain consciousness. For all they know, he won't so he's not a threat. The only one that really needs to worry about your dad is Officer Walker. And he seems more focused on the new power he has as temporary Police Chief. So I think he's safe for now."

Valerie released her breath, her friend's words offering her some relief. "Still, that makes me want to prove what Officer Walker did faster. I don't want to risk that he'll attempt to do something to my dad at some point."

"You know you can always count on me to help for whatever you need."

"I know." Valerie smiled at him. "Sometimes I think I ask too much of you though."

"If I really hated it, I would tell you." Kwan shrugged. "But I like helping my friends."

Valerie let out a short laugh as she rolled her eyes. "You and Danny. You two seem a lot alike sometimes."

"I'll take that as a compliment." Kwan grinned then picked up his sandwich to take a big bite out of it. Valerie smiled lightly as she returned to her own lunch.


	14. Chapter 66.5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Valerie hunts for a lead to prove Officer Walker is responsible for the incident at the precinct.

Valerie lifted her head when she heard a light rap on the doorframe of the hospital room. She glanced over, not surprised, to see Mr. Masters standing in the doorway. The man bowed his head as he stepped into the room, closing the door behind him to give them some privacy.

"No change in his condition?" Mr. Masters questioned as he took a seat next to her in one of the uncomfortable plastic chairs.

Valerie shook her head, her gaze drifting back to her father. "There was a moment," she said quietly, "we thought maybe he would wake. But-" She shook her head again, not wanting to think back on the brief hope that was quickly extinguished. "You're not thinking of trying anything, are you?" She shot him a sideways glare.

"No, no." Mr. Masters held up a hand. "I've learned my lesson. I wanted to do something to help the medical community. How great would it be for families suffering, not knowing if their loved one will ever wake up, if they could be woken by a simple procedure? I took advantage of Mr. Technus' misfortune and used him as a guinea pig for this idea. I don't blame him for wanting to seek vengeance on me."

Valerie eyed him for a second longer. "It's good to know you're not so stubborn that you can't learn from your mistakes."

"Well, the three of you made it hard not to see the error of my ways when you were yelling at me." A small, crooked smile crossed his face.

"It seemed like the only way to get through your thick head." Valerie shrugged.

"It was quite effective." Mr. Masters placed a briefcase on his lap. "But I suppose we should stop with the small talk now. I've kept you waiting, but I hope that wait was worth it." He popped open the briefcase, and Valerie leaned over to get a better look inside it. "Your average concealable dagger." He picked it up and drew it from its sheath, showing off the short, sharp blade. "Perfect for hiding in a boot. This one," he touched the second sheathed dagger in the case, "is especially made for fighting close quarters with a ghost, in case you're ever in a situation where you'll need something like that."

"But this is the fun one." Valerie picked up the three sectioned staff. With ease, she snapped the three sections together, making one long staff. It wasn't anything fancy, but she was used to wielding the staff and knew how to fight with it. "What's that one?"

"Ah, this." Mr. Masters picked up what appeared to be a wristwatch. "It's an ecto ray laser gun. Just push the buttons here." He pushed the top two buttons on the watch, and a small gun suddenly popped out of it. "It may not be as powerful as that rifle, but it'll still pack a punch. And these," he gestured to the remaining items in the briefcase, which looked like colorful golf balls, "are similar in idea to a smoke bomb. You throw them down, and they break, dispersing a smoke. But you'll want to be sure to throw them at your enemies. Because once you breathe in the smoke, you'll have about a minute before it knocks you out. Those hit with it will sleep for about, maybe, half an hour."

Valerie nodded as she listened to his explanation. "There's only three?"

"I was hoping you wouldn't need to use them too often."

Valerie disassembled the staff back into its three sections for easy storage. She frowned slightly as she replaced the item back into the briefcase. "Why did you do this for me?" She side eyed him suspiciously. "Not that I don't appreciate the help. But I'm not the one you need to be making amends with."

Mr. Masters shook his head. "This isn't about making amends. And yes, proving Walker is responsible for putting your father in the hospital would benefit me greatly. But can you say doing so wouldn't benefit the entire town too?"

Valerie, of course, couldn't argue the question. Having Officer Walker in charge as the temporary Police Chief was bad for everyone. She could only assume he bought, or threatened, his way to get the position after what happened to her father. "Then I guess I better do my best to find a way to bring him down."

"I trust you and Phantom will be able to do it." Mr. Masters offered a genuine smile.

Valerie didn't quite trust Mr. Masters after everything she witnessed at his house, but he provided her weapons and kept her secret, so maybe he wasn't such a bad of a man after all. He could become a better man, a better father. Valerie hoped, for Elle's sake.

-

Valerie double checked that all her weapons were securely in place: the knives in her boots, the three sectioned staff strapped to her hip, the sleep gas bombs in a pouch on her belt, and the watch on her wrist. Then she sneaked into the apartment, hardly making a noise as she slipped through an open window. Her hover board folded back up, and she tucked it into the back of her belt. The apartment was small but kept neat and spotless. The black leather couch looked comfy, and the variety of magazines were stacked on the coffee table. Valerie stepped lightly as she made her way through the living area of the apartment where the owner of the apartment was not.

She crept through the room and entered the hall. Someone blocked her way. Instinctively, Valerie grabbed her staff, snapping it into its full length. Almost, she swung without thinking, but the black and white suit made her hesitated enough to catch herself. What was Danny doing here? It didn't make any sense. But then she took in who was standing before her. The man, though similarly costumed, was taller and buffer than Danny. Valerie snapped her staff at him, jamming one end under the man's jaw.

"Who are you?" she demanded, narrowing her eyes.

The man didn't respond right away, but when he did, it was with a chuckle. He knocked the staff aside, causing Valerie to stumble. Off balanced, she barely managed to dodge the elbow aimed at her head, but his foot caught her in the gut. She hit the ground with a grunt. The staff clattered on the hardwood flooring. The man didn't give her time to be dazed. Already he was lining up for another strike. Valerie rolled to her feet, snatching up her staff. She blocked the next punch to come her way then countered, striking at him with her staff. He deflected the attack, pushing away the staff. His next punch struck her in the side. Valerie winced, biting back a yelp of pain. The muscles weren't simply for show. His hits had a lot of power behind them, and Valerie knew she would be nursing some bruised ribs for a while. She thrust her staff forward, stabbing hard into the man's shoulder.

"What is going on here?"

Both of them stopped at the shout with the man about to lunge forward at Valerie. They twisted their heads to see the apartment's owner standing in the living area's doorway with two bags of groceries in his arms. He was young, maybe about twenty-seven, and in good shape. And not too happy about coming home to find two costumed strangers in his apartment. His mouth pursed tightly as his dark eyes glared coldly at them.

"She started it," the costumed man said, pointing at Valerie.

"What are you? Five?" Valerie whacked him sharply on the head.

"Ow!" He rubbed at his head. "You _were_ the one to jab your little stick at me first." He pushed the staff away from him.

"If you two want to fight, can you please take it somewhere else?" asked the man with a tired sigh. "I don't want to have to clean up any mess you make. And I really don't want to have to pay for damages to the apartment."

"I just came to ask some questions."

Valerie frowned at the costumed man. "That was my reason for being here. Why do you need to ask him questions?"

"To clear Phantom's name," he answered like it was obvious. He folded his arms, leaning toward her like he was eying her suspiciously. "You're not here trying to do the same, are you?"

"No," Valerie responded with a snort. "You can have Phantom. Though I think he's already got a boyfriend in mind." She smirked when the costumed man gasped like she wounded him.

"Is this some kind of prank?" asked the apartment owner dryly. "Because I hate pranks, and I will call the cops on you."

"Mr. Eaton, you were at the police precinct when the attack went down that landed the Police Chief in the hospital, were you not?" Valerie questioned, taking charge as she stepped up to the man.

"No," Mr. Eaton replied quickly. Shaking his head, he pushed past Valerie. "No, no. We are not doing this. Get out of my apartment."

"You know something." The costumed man folded his arms. "Right after the incident, you stopped going into work. Why is that?"

"How do you know about that?" Valerie demanded, narrowing her eyes suspiciously at him.

He shrugged. "You have your ways of getting information, and I have mine."

Mr. Eaton put his groceries down on the coffee table. "And both of you can get out of my apartment." He shooed at them with both hands. "I have no answers for you, and we are not doing any interrogations about anything."

"You obviously know something," the costumed man pressed.

"Are you really okay with letting the blame fall onto someone who's innocent?" Valerie questioned. "You can't tell me you agree with the way Officer Walker is running things."

Mr. Eaton sighed, running a hand over his bald head. "No, I don't agree with it. Since you looked into things, you clearly know that I was fired after everything went down. Was it because I'm black? Or is it because I'm a trans man? Or could it possibly be because I actually openly opposed Walker taking over temporarily as Chief Police? I'd put my money on all three reasons."

"Well, all of that sounds like bull shit reasons to fire someone." The costumed man huffed, disgusted by the idea of Mr. Eaton being fired for those reasons.

"Those are completely unfair reasons to fire someone," Valerie agreed, trying to be more delicate about the matter. "And Police Chief Gray certainly never would have used that information as a reason to discriminate against someone."

Mr. Eaton hesitated then nodded. "Police Chief Gray is a good man. Despite any complaints about my being trans, he believed that didn't matter as long as I did well at my job, which I did. He never had any complaints about my performance as a cop."

"Then why won't you speak out against Officer Walker?" Valerie asked, a hint of pleading slipping into her voice. "You were there. Did you see what happened? An eye witness would go a long way to clear an innocent person's name and take down the true culprit."

"Maybe I did see, maybe I didn't." Mr. Eaton shrugged as he frowned.

"Why keep silent?" The costumed man tapped his foot impatiently, and Valerie's gaze flicked to the sword strapped to his back. She hoped he didn't think to resort to whipping out the sword and threatening Mr. Eaton with bodily harm if he didn't talk.

"Because I wouldn't put it past Walker to do something worse than firing me if I spoke out about what he did."

"We really need someone who was there to say what actually happened. With so many other officers carrying those weapons to defend against ghosts, finding the weapon used in the incident doesn't really prove much unless we can provide evidence that places it in Officer Walker's hands at the time the incident happened." Valerie had gone over that train of thought for more hours than she cared to admit. She considered tracking down the weapon, but Officer Walker wouldn't be dumb enough to allow such an obvious piece of evidence to be found. The weapon was likely destroyed by now.

"I talk, and Walker will come for me."

"Officer Walker and his goons wearing white don't care about the people of this city," the costumed man pointed out. "Sure. He catches criminals." He muttered under his breath, "With Phantom's help."

"But he also doesn't care if innocent people get hurt in the process," Valerie added. "And he's hurting businesses with this stupid curfew. He acts like Phantom is some horrible villain, but he's just trying to help protect people. And," her shoulders hunched, "he does a lot better job of doing it than Officer Walker." Danny might have been involved in the accident that landed her father in the hospital, but Valerie knew the reason was only because they both shared that same trait. They would risk their own lives to protect someone, which was what happened with her father at the precinct.

Mr. Eaton glanced between them. "Look. I was one of the cops that didn't have a bad thing to say about Phantom's activity. Two weeks before he showed up, my partner got shot while trying to arrest a suspect of an armed robbery. Two inches to the left," he drew a finger across his chest until it rested over his heart, "and he would be dead now. So if Phantom wants to deal with some dangerous criminals and leave them all nicely tied up for us, I'm not going to complain too hard. I'm not saying I want him to do our job for us, but sometimes it's nice to have a little help. Of course, to the public we have to argue against his activity. We don't want everyone taking up a mask and running around as a vigilante. We don't need a hundred of you. No offense."

"Yeah," the costumed man agreed, scratching the back of his head, "you really don't want that."

"I was there when it happened," Mr. Eaton continued, deciding to gloss over the comment, "though I don't think Walker realized I saw him shooting at the Chief and Phantom. Naturally, his aim was to take out Phantom, but the Chief tried to keep Phantom safe. Immediately after the Chief was down and Phantom had bolted to avoid being captured, Walker busted up the camera in that hall and ordered one his subordinates to erase the security tapes that showed what happened. Perfect opportunity to make Phantom the villain. I've stayed silent because if he can do that to the Chief with no remorse, I doubt he'll feel anything taking out someone like me to keep the truth buried."

"But if we get the truth out there, that will cripple his power," Valerie argued.

"With a man like Walker, the best way to get him out of power is to have the testimony come from the Police Chief himself," said the costumed man, rubbing thoughtfully at his chin.

"So we have nothing until he wakes up from the coma?" Valerie's shoulders drooped. How was she supposed to get justice for her father and protect the town from Walker's tyranny?

"I wouldn't rule things out just yet," Mr. Eaton said, drawing Valerie's gaze back to him. "Walker's cocky. He'll slip up eventually. You just have to be there at the right moment. Then you'll have him."

"I like your thinking." From his tone, it wasn't hard to imagine the man grinning behind his mask.

Valerie frowned. "I suppose I could use the help keeping tabs on Officer Walker." She would rather do it herself without having to rely on someone, especially some masked man she didn't even know. But she and Danny had school during the day. They could use someone who could watch Walker during that time. The costumed man mentioned he was looking to clear Phantom's name. Danny might trust this man. But could Valerie trust him?

"I'm going to be watching him whether you want to work together or not. I'm clearing Phantom's name. One way or another."

"Just," Valerie's mouth pursed as she wondered just how Danny came to know this man, "don't kill anyone."

The costumed man held up his hands in surrender. "First Phantom. Now you. I get the picture. Killing's a no-no. I'm not going to do something to make things worse for Phantom."

Valerie could almost hear an unspoken, "If I can help it." She eyed him for a moment then sighed. "I'm assuming you know how to reach Phantom, so you can pass any information to him and he can get it to me." She turned to Mr. Eaton. "I'm sorry for putting you in this-"

Mr. Eaton held up a hand to stop her. "I understand your reasons for questioning me. But I hope you can understand why I don't want to risk speaking up."

Valerie nodded. She didn't want to endanger someone's life just to take down Officer Walker. "Thank you for telling us what you know."


	15. Chapter 69.5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack and Maddie discuss things over a cup of coffee.

"He's going to be fine." Jack set a mug of coffee on the table before his wife. She worried her thumbnail so much Jack feared she might chew the whole nail right off her thumb.

Maddie pulled her hand away from her mouth then wrapped it around the mug as she lifted her gaze. She offered her husband a small, forced smile. "Sorry. I can't help it." She took a sip of the coffee then set down the mug again. "I already don't like the idea of him running out there and putting himself in harm's way. I know. He's saving people and stopping criminals. And I understand what got him started doing this. But he could get seriously hurt, and that scares me. But now there's the Guys in White to worry about. We don't know what sort of tech they have. What if they capture him?"

Jack sat down next to her and closed a hand over her hand. "I'm scared too," he admitted. The thought sneaked into his mind ever since they learned the truth about their son. It kept him awake at night and filled his dreams with dreadful images. "But he's grown up to be far wiser and much more mature than we gave him credit for. He's strong and capable, and I think he can do a lot of good as Phantom."

Maddie squeezed his hand. "We raised a good son."

"We did." Jack nodded, returning the squeeze. Then he pulled his hand away with a sigh. "I know his actions were not well thought out, but right now, I think having a way to wake up a coma patient would be handy."

Maddie frowned as she turned her gaze to the papers spread over the table. They were running through the information Danny gathered so far to see if they could pick out any helpful clues their son might have overlooked. Things would be significantly easier on them if they could awaken Mr. Gray from his coma. Then Mr. Gray could explain what really happened during the attack on the police precinct which ended with him in the hospital.

"The idea may be noble, and would really come in handy, but messing with something like that isn't something we, or anyone, should do," Maddie said with a stern look at her husband. "And we've already seen evidence of how doing such a thing might turn out. It wouldn't be wise to risk it."

Jack sighed. "I know. Vlad never should have tried something like that. But if we can just get Officer Walker out of temporary Police Chief's office, we could get rid of the Guys in White, which is good for everyone. Not just ghosts. And most importantly, our son, Elle, and Vlad."

"We're going to figure out a way to prove Officer Walker was the one at fault for what happened to Mr. Gray," Maddie stated firmly, and Jack believed her. She always sounded so confident when she spoke with such strong conviction. It was easy to believe she could do just about anything when speaking in that manner. "He might be a smart man, but no one's smart enough to leave absolutely no evidence. We will find something on him, and we will get him out of office."

"No giving up until we do!" Jack pumped a fist into the air. "But Officer Walker isn't our only problem."

Jack pressed his mouth thin as he glanced at all the various papers on the table. Their daughter's killer was still out there. When Mr. Gray was running the office, Jack felt confident in the man's ability to hunt down the person responsible for the death of their daughter. Officer Walker, on the other hand, was obsessed with capturing Phantom. It was just another reason to wish for Mr. Gray to wake from his coma, aside from his daughter needing him. Mr. Gray cared about the people of his town and about their safety and about bringing criminals to justice. Officer Walker's allegiance seemed to be more for the Guys in White than the police department.

"We need to find a clue to Jazz's killer." Jack scanned the papers, looking for something they might have missed.

"I never would have thought Danny would be this good at gathering and piecing together information." Maddie smiled softly. "Maybe he could grow up to be a detective." Danny had picked up on quite a bit of information, but the organization behind some of the things happening in town remained a complete mystery. "I think our best lead is trying to figure out who these two men are." She pointed to a scrap of paper where Danny wrote about his encounter with two men who had faked being in trouble. "But this really isn't much to go on."

With a nod, Jack stared at the paper. It had a little note written on the side reading: Familiar? He wasn't sure what exactly his son found familiar, but they hadn't questioned him about it yet. "Danny said one of them turned into an animal. That sounds like a ghost. We could try tracking him with our Fenton Finder."

"But we'll need more than that if we want to find this ghost," Maddie said before Jack could get too excited about going on a ghost hunt. With Danny's help, they managed to fine tune their Fenton Finder and even locate a few ghosts on their own. They only went on short ghost hunting excursions, and the ghosts they came across were mostly harmless; a cat trying to catch living mice, a beggar sitting at the corner of one street quietly waiting for handouts like he didn't realize he had died. But with those few successes, they felt like they could locate this ghost Danny encountered. "First, we need to know what this ghost looks like."

"Ah." Jack frowned because Danny hadn't put a description of the two men in his notes. He and Maddie both glanced toward the ceiling when they heard Cujo bark excitedly. "Sounds like Danny just got home."


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lancer isn't happy when he receives a late night visitor.

"Don't they bother to know the time before banging on someone's door?" Lancer muttered, tying his robe closed as he walked down the stairs. It was nearly two in the morning, and he was not in the mood to deal with someone, especially if it was some prankster. As much as he enjoyed teaching and nurturing young minds, he had little tolerance for immature pranks played on him. His mouth thinned as he recalled the last time he received a late night visitor only to open the door to find a flaming bag on his doorstep. They weren't too smart if they thought he would fall for that trick after the number of years he spent as a teacher. He admitted he felt a small sense of satisfaction being able to give the student a week's worth of detention for the prank after catching him.

Preparing himself mentally for whatever juvenile prank a student might play this time, Lancer cracked open his front door and cautiously peeked out. It was no prank nor student. Lancer pulled the door all the way open, fully awake and alert when he saw the man standing on his doorstep.

"Dan?" Lancer shook the surprise away. "Come in." He stepped aside to let the man into his home.

Dan bobbed his head then entered. His face was hidden, the hood of his sweatshirt raised to cast shadows over his face. He seemed jittery, and Lancer didn't think that was a good thing. Dan always projected strength and cockiness in front of people. It was like that since he first encountered the mercenary when Dan was just a teenager, almost about to enter his twenties. At the time, Dan had a nasty stab to his stomach but refused Lancer's offer to take him to a hospital. Instead, Lancer brought him home and patched him up as best as possible in the downstairs bathroom. He wasn't an expert in medical care, but he knew a few things. They forged a friendship from there. But Lancer had never seen Dan like this.

"I don't usually entertain guests this late at night." Lancer closed the front door. "So you'll have to forgive me if I don't have any refreshments prepared."

"I don't plan to stay long." Dan shuffled his feet, his head turning to look everywhere else but at the man in front of him.

"Would you at least like to sit down?"

Dan shook his head. "Making this a short visit, remember?"

"Right." Lancer folded his arms and leaned back against the front door, blocking the exit. "Then by all means, start whenever you like." It was always better to let the person speak their mind in their own time, but Lancer couldn't help the touch of frostiness entering his voice. It was late, and he needed sleep before another long day at school.

Dan paced the front hall, gesturing with his hands like he was having a conversation inside his head. "He wasn't - I didn't expect - I mean, he tolerated me." He stopped and faced Lancer. "Sure. We got off to a rough start with him interrupting a job. But after that, things went okay. And I'd love to fight him again. Not the 'I'm gonna kill him' type fight, but just, you know, sparring. Because I actually enjoyed fighting against him."

Lancer nodded as he listened to the rambling. Sometimes, when he got going, Dan could go off on a tangent and make it difficult to always follow him. "I'm going to go out on a limb and assume by him you mean Phantom."

"Yes," Dan replied slowly, almost like he was expecting the teacher to yell at him. "And yes, I fell hard for him, and I may have flirted with him. But I never thought he would actually like me back." He paced again. "I've had relationships in the past, and you know how those all turned out. Though after-" He cut himself off with a shake of his head. "But you know Phantom. He's all justice and catching criminals and no killing allowed. And he really doesn't like that about me, but for some reason, he does like... me." He stopped to look at Lancer again. "How can he like me? Sure!" He threw his arms up in the air, continuing before Lancer could work up a response. "I dreamt about him liking me back, but I figured it was an impossible thing. He's too good for me. Too pure. I'd only taint him with all the terrible things about me."

"Dan, terrible things happened _to_ you and you've _done_ some terrible things, but that doesn't make you a terrible person. Some might argue that killing makes you a terrible person." His mouth pursed momentarily, the fact that Dan killed for a living leaving a bad taste in his mouth. "But I'm also well aware of the type of jobs you take on when killing is involved. They're horrible people who have done terrible things. Of course, I do know you're capable of doing good things. And I think Phantom sees that in you too."

Dan laughed, his shoulders shaking as he bowed his head with hand to his eyes. It wasn't the happy amused laugh. It had a broken quality to it. "The two of you should definitely meet sometime. You'd get along great." He sighed as he leaned back against the hall wall. "It's almost like a dream that he said he liked me." He shifted with hesitancy. "But it's not the only thing that has me freaking out."

Lancer arched an eyebrow, curious to know what else was on the mercenary's mind. Their last conversation had revolved mostly around Dan's feelings for the young hero. Did the rest of his fears involve Phantom? "I advise you to go slow with this relationship. I know you've had some rushed relationships in the past that led to messy breakups. And don't view him on a pedestal. Too pure? Everyone has a touch of darkness in them. He's just as flawed as anyone else."

"I - I know that!" Dan sputtered, flustered. "But that," he turned his head to the side, "wasn't it." He reached up a hand, hesitated, then pushed back his hood.

Lancer jerked, his eyes growing wide when the mercenary revealed his face. He had seen Dan's face in the past, but this wasn't the Dan he knew. His face was wrinkled with scars. His skin was an unusual shade of green. White flames danced from his head. Lancer could understand now why the mercenary had kept his face hidden during his last visit.

"I thought I had merely been turned into a monster," Dan explained, bitterness in his voice. "Who could love a monster that looked like this?" He waved a hand at his face.

"Dan, if Phantom-"

"He says I'm a ghost," Dan cut off the teacher, who snapped his mouth shut with a look of shock. "I thought they made me a monster, but their little experiment to heal my burn scars killed me." He put his hands to his head, the flames flickering between his fingers. "I'm dead. I'm _dead_!" His chest rose and fell in quick breaths as his red eyes grew wide and wild. "All this time, I've been going around thinking I was a monster. But the whole _damn_ time-"

"Language," Lancer interrupted warningly.

"I was dead!" Dan stepped toward him, desperation in his eyes. "What does a ghost even do?"

Lancer placed his hands on the mercenary's shoulders. "First, just breathe." Did ghosts even need to breathe? It didn't matter. Dan took a deep breath and released it slowly, seeming to calm down a touch. "I'll admit this is a bit out of my wheelhouse. I don't usually have ghosts to counsel. But you continued acting the same as before until you learned about being a ghost, right?"

Dan shrugged. "Yeah, I didn't know any better. Though what I thought was a major healing factor seemed like an amazing side effect to what was done. It," he rubbed at his chin, "made my job easier in a way."

"Because you could be a lot more reckless without the fear of death?"

Dan winced at the glare Lancer shot him. "Maybe."

Lancer sighed, shaking his head. "I think it's safe if you simply continuing acting as before. Being a ghost doesn't seem to have had much affect on you." He patted the mercenary's shoulder. "I can't imagine what it was like to realize you're a ghost, and I don't know what words I could even offer you to console you. It's terrible what happened to you." He shook his head. "I'm sorry. It's still a little hard for me to fully grasp this. I'm used to when someone dies, they're gone. But you're - You're here. You're standing right here in front of me. Maybe your life is over, but you can still accomplish things after death."

Dan's brow knitted as he stood in deep consideration of what the teacher said. "Yeah," he mumbled. Then louder, "Yeah!" A grin spread over his face. "What was I getting all worked up about?" He laughed, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. "I need to work on figuring out these ghost powers. Once I can do that, I'll be able to keep watch over Walker. He'll slip up, and I'll be able to get evidence to prove Phantom's innocence."

Lancer schooled a smile. He was glad to see Dan's first thought in using his ghost powers was for a good cause rather than how much easier it would allow him to pull off jobs involving killing someone. "I'm sure Phantom will appreciate your help." He did smile seeing the slight coloring on Dan's cheeks as he looked away, clearly embarrassed.


	17. Chapter 72.5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack and Maddie search for the two men in Danny's sketches.  
> Characters: Jack and Maddie

"I never realized Danny was so good with art," Maddie admitted, staring at the sketches their son made of the two men who lured him into a trap. Maybe they were no Mona Lisa, but they were detailed enough that Maddie was certain they would have no trouble identifying the two men if they crossed paths.

"He must get that from you," Jack said, peeking over her shoulder to see the drawings too. "Because we both know how artistic I am."

Maddie frowned at her husband. "You draw most of the blueprints when we're designing stuff."

"Yeah, but that's just technical junk." Jack waved off her argument. "If we're talking about things like people or landscapes, I can't do it."

Maddie nudged him in the waist with her elbow. "You designed that logo for Fenton Works." She smirked when she spotted a blush on his cheeks.

"Oh, um, you saw that?" Jack scratched at a pink cheek, looking away from his wife. "I was just messing around. I was thinking, if ghosts become a bigger problem, maybe people might like to purchase things for protection. Like an anti-ghost field to go around their house so they'll be safe from ghost attacks. Weapons, though, I think we should keep off the market."

With a nod of agreement, Maddie folded up the sketches and tucked them away into one of her pouches. "We don't need any more people running around with dangerous weapons they don't know how to use."

Jack rubbed at his chin, his brow furrowing as he thought. "You don't think Danny will want to follow in our footsteps, do you?"

"He has demonstrated a keen understanding of our research and inventions, just from looking at our notes and blueprints." Maddie brushed back a lock of her hair. "But we are not going to pressure him into it." She glared sternly at her husband. "Danny can choose to pursue whatever career he wants."

Jack held up his hands. "I never said anything about pushing him! It's just," he sighed, raking his fingers through his hair, "he gets that light in his eyes when we start talking about ghost stuff. I always thought he might feel embarrassed by us if he ever learned about our work. I just never thought he-"

Maddie shushed him, holding up a hand. "We're getting something." She had pulled out their ghost detector, which was set for strong presences of ecto energy. "Come on!" She led the way down the street at a fast pace, following the signal on the detector. It might be a random ghost, innocently hanging around town, but her heart raced a beat faster. Could it be one of the ghosts they were looking for? Would they get answers about what happened to their daughter? Maddie feared she might have to restrain herself from punching the ghosts for attacking her son.

"How far away?" Jack questioned, jogging a step behind her.

They received odd looks from those they passed, but Maddie hardly paid them any attention. She was used to odd looks, having received them since childhood. In her family, she had always been the odd one. She didn't mind the outdoors and learning to fight, but she had a mind for science that the rest of her family lacked. She was happy to leave Spittoon to attend college in Wisconsin. Some of the other college students may have thought she was strange, but she had found a group of friends who liked her as she was and shared her interests. Because of her experience with her own parents, who couldn't understand her interest in science and ghosts, she wanted to do everything she could to support whatever interests her children had.

"Just a block up," Maddie answered after a quick check on the detector to be sure the ghost hadn't moved.

When they reached the corner rounding to a back alley, Maddie halted, holding up an arm to stop her husband. They were close! Just around the corner was the ghost. But before charging into a potential fight, she wanted to investigate. She glanced at her husband, and Jack nodded, pulling down his goggles in case the ghost was invisible. Cautiously, they peered around the corner. Exactly as Danny had drawn them stood the short mustached man and the one called Skulker. Maddie nearly gasped out loud.

"What are we waiting for?" Skulker demanded, his beefy arms folded over his broad chest. His mouth pressed thin as anger flashed in his eyes. His foot tapped impatiently against the ground. "You promised me-"

"I know what I've promised." The mustached man scowled with a storm of fury in his eyes. "Do _not_ think of me as a fool!"

Skulker snorted. "Then explain to me why we haven't followed up and taken out that pesky brat."

Maddie gripped the edge of the building, tempted to rush over and knock the man flat on his back for calling her son a brat. But they wouldn't learn anything more if they struck now.

"Since Spectra unfortunately made herself known," the mustached man glowered, "I decided to employ her for another use. Books, you see, can be very enlightening." He reached into a pocket of his coat then pulled out a rolled up scroll of old, yellowed paper. "We finally have a clue. We just need to decipher the text."

Maddie backed away from the corner. She caught her husband's gaze, and they shared the same thought: They couldn't allow this ghost to read whatever was on that scroll. Jack pulled a blast from his belt, readying it to fire at the ghost. Maddie retrieved a small silver rod. When she hit a button on the side, glowing green beams sprung from both ends. They were ready to face the man and the ghost. Wasting no more time, they charged around the corner.

Jack fired a blast at the short mustached man. His shot missed by a hair, zooming past the man and singeing the hairs of his mustache. The man shot a dark glare at Jack, but his features slowly morphed, fur growing out of his face. He dropped to all fours as muscle and bone rearranged. In moments, before them stood a ferocious tiger, snarling with sharp teeth ready to snap at them. Jack hesitated only a moment, maybe a little fearful of taking on a tiger or maybe fascinated by watching the ghost transform.

Perhaps it wasn't the ghost's wisest move, however. Once transformed, he lost his hold on the scroll, which now lay on the ground beside him. If they were quick, maybe one of them could grab the scroll before the ghost realized his error. Maddie moved forward, but the man with Mohawk stepped in to block her. He cracked the knuckles of one hand as a grin stretched across his dark skinned face. Then Skulker threw a punch, direct and to the point. He had strength and power, but Maddie was quick and nimble. She ducked under his arm then pivoted, her staff arcing around and upward to catch Skulker under his arm. He stumbled back, wincing at the blow.

"Impressive," Skulker sneered, though he didn't sound impressed at all. He reached behind him and unsheathed a long curved sword. He slashed at her, and Maddie blocked with her staff. She gritted her teeth, struggling to hold him off. Skulker kicked her in the stomach. With a gasp, she hit the ground, her staff skittering away from her. Skulker held his sword before her face with a cocky smirk. "But not impressive enough."

He raised his sword then swung it downward. A blast of green struck his hand. The sword flew, turning end over end before striking the ground several feet away. Skulker cursed under his breath, holding his injured hand. Maddie took the opportunity to grab a weapon from one of her pouches. It looked like a simple lipstick holder, but when she uncapped it and pushed a button on the end of it, a blast of green goo shot out of it. The goo splattered across the man's face, blinding him. Maddie rolled onto her feet and rushed over to her husband. Jack leaned against a building's wall, his jumpsuit torn and blood dripping down one side of his face. The ghost was gone.

"What happened?" Maddie asked with concern etched into the lines of her face as she gingerly touched her husband's forehead from where he bled.

Jack shook his head then glanced toward the stumbling, cursing man. "Let's get out of here first."

Maddie followed his gaze and nodded. They could discuss things later. The important thing right now was to retreat while Skulker was still blinded. Jack grabbed her hand and pulled her down the back alley toward the street. Maddie tossed a look over her shoulder, seeing Skulker wiping the goo from his eyes, as they rounded the corner. On the street, they rushed by people, pushing past them to put distance between them and Skulker. After interrupting their little meeting, Maddie wouldn't be surprised if he came after them. She ground her teeth in frustration. They had rushed in, and her husband was now injured. And for what? What did they have to show for that effort?

"And we have some analyzing to do," Jack added when they were several blocks away. Some people released startled gasps when they saw him with blood down his face. Jack grinned at Maddie and held up something in his free hand. It was a faded yellow, crushed bit of paper with jagged edging.

Maddie gasped when she realized what he held. "I could kiss you!" Their efforts weren't a complete waste! Jack managed to snatch a portion of the scroll the mustached man had shown Skulker. It wasn't the whole thing, but maybe if they could decipher enough of it, they could understand what the man was plotting and stop him.


	18. Chapter 74.5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tucker and Sam pay a visit to the Fenton house, but their friend isn't their reason for stopping by.  
> Characters: Tucker, Sam, Maddie, Jack, Vlad, Technus, and Elle

"Danny hasn't come home yet," Mrs. Fenton said after opening the front door.

"Ah, we know," Tucker said with a slight wince. "We just dropped him off because he had something he wanted to check out." Once they left the cemetery, which he was thankful to get away from, they decided to drive over to the Fenton house.

"There's something we wanted to talk about," Sam explained, "with you." Her smile was only slightly forced.

Tucker recognized it as the smile she used whenever she was trying to charm an adult. Which tended to involve one of her crusades. She could be extremely passionate about things, like eating right and saving animals and protecting the environment. It was something he liked a lot about her, even though he groaned whenever she tried to pull him and Danny into it. He only truly hated when she tried to make him eat vegetables. Sometimes, however, her passion could blind her. She claimed to be working on it though.

"With me?" Mrs. Fenton blinked in confusion. "Oh, um. Do come in." She stepped aside to allow her son's friends into the house. After they were inside, she closed the door.

"Who was at the door?" Mr. Fenton asked, walking into the front hall from the kitchen. He halted when he saw Sam and Tucker. "Danny's friends? He's not home yet."

"We know." Tucker bit back a chuckle at the adults' bafflement.

"We also know that you know about Phantom," Sam said bluntly.

Danny's parents exchanged a glance. Then Mrs. Fenton sighed. "It makes me nervous to know he's out there. Some criminals and ghosts can be dangerous. And then you have the Guys in White out to get him."

"He's done pretty well taking care of himself so far," Tucker pointed out, though he omitted what he knew about the injuries Danny received while fighting criminals and ghosts. He doubted mentioning that would help with Danny's parents worrying about him.

"But he is just one person," Sam said. "He does a lot to help stop crime and protect the town. But being just one person," her shoulders hunched up as her forced smile widened just a touch, "he can't be everywhere at once."

"We're not letting you two put yourselves in danger too," Mr. Fenton said sternly, folding his arms. Tucker couldn't remember a time when the man actually looked like a strict parent, but apparently he could manage it when he wanted.

"That's not what we meant!" Tucker said hurriedly, shaking his hands before him. "We don't want to go _looking_ for criminals."

"It's more about being prepared in case something comes up," Sam added.

"We don't think it's wise for you to take on criminals." Mrs. Fenton shook her head. "That should be left up to the police."

"I'm going to assume you mean the real police." Sam frowned. "Because we all know the Guys in White care more about capturing Phantom than they do about capturing actual criminals."

"We aren't talking about taking out someone who comes in to, like, rob a bank at gunpoint or anything," Tucker said. "If a ghost, for some reason, decided to attack, and Danny is preoccupied with another attack somewhere else, we want to be able to stand up against it. We care about this town too."

"We haven't had the chance to fully test out some of our inventions," Mrs. Fenton mumbled with worry creasing her brow.

"I'd trust our weapons with them far more than handing them over to the Guys in White," Mr. Fenton told his wife. "It wouldn't be that hard to train them to use the weapons. And we know they aren't going to go around harassing innocent ghosts."

Mrs. Fenton stared at her husband, and her mouth pursed slightly. They seemed to share some kind of silent conversation just with minute facial changes. Then she sighed heavily. "All right. I guess we could train them. It's always good to be prepared after all."

"Yes!" Grinning, Sam raised her fists triumphantly into the air. "Danny says you're a ninth degree black belt," she said, following Mrs. Fenton, who walked toward the kitchen. "Do you think you could teach us a few moves? You never know when you might have to free yourself from an opponent."

Tucker grabbed the sleeve of Mr. Fenton's jumpsuit before he followed them to the kitchen. "Um, there was something else I wanted to ask about. You've been trying to help Mr. Technus, right?"

"Uh, yeah." Mr. Fenton frowned, rubbing the back of his neck and not meeting Tucker's gaze. "It hasn't been going exactly well. He gets pretty agitated whenever he sees Vlad. You know, blaming him for everything that happened." He let out a sigh, his shoulders sagging slightly with defeat in his blue eyes.

"Hey, um," Tucker rubbed at one elbow, "maybe I could come along one of the times you try to talk to him. I know I don't know a lot about this stuff, and I won't be much help, but I'd at least like to see him. I still worry about him. He taught me a lot of stuff about robotics, and he was my favorite teacher."

Mr. Fenton seemed hesitant, but then he clapped Tucker on the shoulder, almost knocking the young man over with the force of his slap. "You know, we could go over there right now! Yeah! Maybe seeing one of his students will snap some sense back into him." He grinned, regaining some of his confidence. He jogged to the kitchen and yelled down to the basement. "We're going out for a bit. Be back in a while!" Then he grabbed the keys to the car. "Let's hit the road!"

During the ride to the Masters' house, Tucker sat tensely in the front seat. He hadn't seen Mr. Technus since the explosion at the school. Even when he and Sam helped Danny keep watch at Axion Labs for Mr. Technus to attack, Tucker didn't see him in person. At that time, Mr. Technus was hiding within a large robot he had constructed to seek his revenge against Mr. Masters. Tucker didn't know exactly what he was expecting when he finally got to see his teacher again. He thought maybe it might help him a little to see Mr. Technus, like it would put his worries, or at least some of them, to rest.

When they reached the Masters' house, Tucker whistled lowly as he stared at it. The house was more intimidating than Sam's, and that said a lot since her family was rich. He gulped nervously as he followed Mr. Fenton up to the front door. They waited only about two minutes before the door opened. The woman didn't look too pleased to see them.

"Back again?" she asked like dealing with Mr. Fenton exhausted her.

Mr. Fenton merely chuckled as he entered the house. "Always nice to see you Carmina. Is Vlad in?"

"I wasn't expecting you to come over today," Mr. Masters said when he strolled into the front hall moments after they arrived. He frowned at the papers in his hands. "Did I lose track of the days again?"

"Not at all, Vladdie!" Mr. Fenton walked over to the man and drew him into a crushing hug, which left Mr. Masters wheezing. "This," he released Mr. Masters to gesture to Tucker, "is my son's friend."

Tucker waved awkwardly to the man, who frowned in puzzlement.

"He was one of Mr. Technus' students and wanted to check in on him," Mr. Fenton explained.

Mr. Masters' mouth pursed a touch as he stared at the young man before him, and Tucker thought for certain the billionaire would send him away. Despite being intimidated - more like _scared_ \- by him, Tucker glared back like he was daring Mr. Masters to say something bad about him.

Mr. Masters sighed. "I supposed it couldn't hurt anything. Perhaps seeing a former student of his will bring out some sense in him." He folded his papers and tucked them under his arm. "Follow me." He walked down the hall, leading the pair to his personal laboratory where Mr. Technus was kept.

Tucker thought it would be much more impressive. But maybe it was because a lot of the laboratory looked like it was hit by a tornado recently. He remembered what Danny told him and Sam about what happened with Elle, and he guessed Mr. Masters had more important things to worried about than fixing up the laboratory right away.

Mr. Masters stopped near the door. "I'll just be right here. Any closer, and he starts screaming for my death." His face pinched in a pained wince.

Mr. Fenton walked over to a tube set in the back wall. Tucker followed several steps behind the big man. When he got closer, Tucker saw within the tube floated a white haired, green skinned ghost which looked like his teacher. Mr. Technus had his head bowed, his chin resting against his chest. His eyes were closed, seen over the top of his sunglasses. Tucker hated to see his teacher like this, but after the whole incident with the robot, he could understand why it was necessary. They couldn't help Mr. Technus if he was raging with obsessive revenge. It would be easier to talk him down from it if he was contained and couldn't harm anyone.

"Hello, Mr. Technus," Mr. Fenton greeted cautiously. Obviously, previous conversations with the ghost had left the man wary of the response he would receive. "How are you feeling today?"

His eyes opened, the red glow glaring at the man. "I'm stuck in this piece of garbage," Mr. Technus said in a slow, purposeful manner. "How would _you_ feel if you were in my position?"

"Ha... Well! I brought a guest today." Mr. Fenton waved a hand at Tucker. "You recognize Tucker, don't you?"

"I might be a ghost, but I'm not an imbecile!" Mr. Technus scowled darkly at Mr. Fenton, who shrank away from the containment unit.

"H-Hi," Tucker said, waving at his teacher. The whole thing felt weird to him.

Mr. Technus tore his scowl from Mr. Fenton and turned it onto Tucker, who flinched. Then the anger faded away from his face. "Ah, one of my favorite students! What are you doing here?"

"I, uh, just wanted to see if you were okay," Tucker answered but didn't dare step any closer to the containment unit.

"I'm a ghost being held against my will in the home of the vile man that caused all of this," Mr. Technus spat out, folding his arms. "Do I seem okay to you?"

"No, I suppose not." Tucker frowned. He thought he would feel better after seeing his teacher, but he actually felt worse. This was no way for anyone to exist. "What exactly started all of this?" He glanced briefly at Mr. Masters across the room. "I mean, why did things turn out like this?"

"That - That _scum_!" Mr. Technus growled, pointing at Mr. Masters. "He came to me at the school to ask me to work on a new project for him. I turned him down. I had enough on my plate at the time with overseeing the robotics club since the competition was soon approaching."

"I was disappointed," Mr. Masters admitted. "But I knew better than to push the topic. I left the school after he turned me down. I could ask one of my employees to work on it, though I did hope Mr. Technus would be able to come in to consult on the project later when his time allowed."

"Ha!" Mr. Technus laughed bitterly. "If that was true, then explain to me who bombed the school? Huh? Who? You're the only one with the motive. And all because I rejected you."

"You seriously think I would do something so stupid?" Mr. Masters demanded, storming over to the containment unit. "Yes, I realize you are the best when it comes to robotics technology, and you're a genius in other fields regarding technology. But blowing up the school and you with it? That's madness! If it was ever traced back to me, I'd end up in jail, which I most certainly do not want, especially now with the Guys in White running around like they own the town. But most importantly, how would killing you have benefitted me? An explosion like that could have killed you. Then where I be? I wouldn't be able to ask for your expertise on problems. I wanted you alive. Not dead."

"Of course you would have such a sensible explanation." Mr. Technus sneered, clearly not believing the man's words. "You probably have millions of excuses to talk your way out trouble."

"It's not a lie though."

All of them turned to see a woman a few years younger than Tucker standing by the doorway.

"He was here when the explosion at Casper High happened," Elle explained. "I know my dad has done some pretty questionable things, but he's not a killer. He would have found another way around the problem. Killing someone wouldn't be very beneficial to him."

"She's right," Tucker agreed. "I don't think Mr. Masters set up the bomb. Which means someone else is responsible. But why?"

Mr. Masters frowned, considering every possible answer to the question. "A distraction, perhaps." He shrugged. "Whatever the case, I hope you can believe that I wasn't the one responsible for this. I merely tried to bring you back after you were put in a coma."

Mr. Technus' nostrils flared, and his left eye twitched. "I don't wish to talk anymore!" He turned his back on them, refusing to acknowledge their presence any longer.

Tucker sighed inwardly, his shoulders drooping. "Uh, well, thanks for letting me see him." He wasn't sure how he felt about the whole conversation, but at least it seemed the explosion at the school wasn't Mr. Masters' fault.


	19. Chapter 75.5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Friends keep each other's secrets, but Valerie doesn't often find herself being confided in by certain A Listers.  
> Characters: Valerie, Paulina, and Danny

Valerie sighed as she closed her locker door. When she heard about the curfew being lifted - Finally, the mayor stopped being an idiot! - she expected to overhear something to nail Officer Walker with. The man had to be furious about having the mayor overrule him. Valerie smirked when she imagined what his reaction must have been. She suspected lots of yelling and throwing of furniture. Officer Walker didn't strike her as the type of man to take that kind of thing well. Maybe she would have better luck when she went to spy on him tonight.

"Hey, Val."

Valerie almost jumped. She allowed her thoughts to distract her, dulling her awareness of her surroundings. When she was out on patrol, she had to be careful of doing that, or she would let her opponents get the upper hand on her. She turned to find Paulina standing behind her. The Hispanic woman chewed on her lower lip as she hugged a few textbooks to her chest. Unsurprisingly, Paulina dressed in a pink knitted sweater. Paulina loved the color, and while it wasn't Valerie's favorite, she never saw it as a reason to think badly of her, like being girly somehow made her anti-feminist. Or liking popular things somehow made her less unique as a person. Any head butting between them came from fighting to be most popular in school.

"Oh, hey, Paulina. What's up?" Valerie shouldered her bag with a curious lift of her eyebrows.

"I was wondering," Paulina glanced around the hall, seeming nervous about something, "if we could talk about something. Um, in private?"

Valerie blinked at the request. Usually when she wanted to divulge private information to someone, Paulina would pull Star off somewhere. Valerie hated to admit it actually made her feel a little left out. If they were going to have some private girl talk, why wouldn't she be invited too? But she guessed sometimes there were things Paulina only wanted to tell her best friend.

"Uh, yeah, sure." Valerie shrugged a shoulder like it was no big deal. She was curious, though, why Paulina wanted to tell her something private instead of talking to Star. "Where do you wanna talk?" There were plenty of places in the high school where students could sneak off for a private conversation, or something else. Not that Valerie had ever done _that_ , but she wasn't stupid. She knew some students liked to make out in those secret spots.

"Oh, we can go to that spot by the library," Paulina suggested leading the way down the hall.

Valerie followed her, still wondering what all of this was about. Other students they passed headed the other way, toward the cafeteria for lunch. At the thought of food, her stomach growled. She didn't want to be insensitive, but she kind of hoped this talk wouldn't take long because she was hungry.

The area around the library was fairly quiet at this time. Around the side of it, there was a little nook where students could sneak off to and not be seen by other students passing by the area. Valerie leaned back against the wall and waited patiently for her friend to speak.

Paulina paced a few times in front of Valerie as she chewed on a thumbnail. "Okay. So I've kind of told a few people about this already. Jazz," she shrugged helpless, "and Danny. I even went to Ms. Spectra."

Valerie sucked in a hissing breath as she cringed. She couldn't imagine Ms. Spectra being helpful no matter what the problem was. It was one of the reasons she had avoided the counselor whenever Ms. Spectra tried to get her into her office. The woman seemed too forceful and wouldn't listen when a person said they weren't ready to talk about something.

"Yeah." Paulina frowned. "That was a big mistake. But I thought I needed to talk to someone about this. I mean, Jazz was helping me, but..." She trailed off, lowering her gaze. "Anyway, and Danny tried being nice and understanding, but even he suggested I really talk to someone about it."

"And you came to me?" Valerie was baffled. She figured she would be the last person Paulina would come to with any delicate information about herself.

"Well, the guys," Paulina's mouth pursed, "I know they can be accepting, but I don't know. I guess I just don't feel comfortable telling them about this yet." With a sigh, she joined Valerie leaning against the wall. "And, well, I can't really tell Star."

Valerie's brow crinkled as she stared at the other woman. Why would Paulina not be able to tell her best friend about something? "I'm sure she'd understand whatever it is."

"Maybe." But Paulina didn't sound convinced. "You see, the thing is, I realized I was asexual."

"Oh." Valerie's mouth formed a little "o" as the words hit her. Kwan was a pretty understanding guy, so she didn't doubt he would accept this side of Paulina. Dash - Well, Dash sometimes wasn't the most sensitive person around, but he did seem to try to be accepting of others sexuality. He could have chosen to harass Danny a lot worse simply because Danny came out as bisexual, but that was probably the one thing Dash didn't use against Danny.

"It's a little weird, isn't it?" Paulina stared at the floor like there was some interesting pattern on the tiles.

"What? No!" Valerie answered, a knee jerk response. "I mean, okay. A little weird. But not like _you_ are weird. Just, you know," she shrugged, "you've always dressed up and made yourself look pretty. And you go on all those dates with guys."

Paulina cracked a small smile. "I always felt like when the time was right, I'd want it. That's how it was supposed to work. That's what everyone says and stuff. But I just," she lifted her gaze to Valerie, "don't feel that way. I really thought something was broken with me."

"If anyone tells you something like that, they're a moron," Valerie told her seriously. "And I'll give them a good punch for you." She smacked a fist into her other hand with a loud slap.

"Thanks," Paulina said with a light chuckle. Then she chewed on her lip, nervousness creeping into her eyes. "I bet you're wondering why I'm telling you this instead of Star."

"It'd be a lie if I said no." Valerie scratched at the side of her head. "You and Star have always been the closest two out of the three of us. It would make more sense for you to confide in her."

Paulina winced. "I don't suppose you have advice for how to get over someone."

"Ah, well," Valerie frowned, "that, um, I think that's different for everyone. Because we process our emotions differently, so how I would get over someone may not work for-" Her eyes widened and her mouth hung open as she stared at Paulina. "No!" she gasped, utterly shocked by the connection her brain made. "You," she pointed at the other woman, "and Star?"

Paulina's cheeks flushed cutely pink. "Not being sexually attracted to people doesn't mean I can't be romantically attracted to someone." She looked away, rubbing a hand at the back of her neck. "At least, that's what I read when I was researching stuff about asexuality. There's different spectrums to the different sexualities. Did you know you could romantically attracted to the same sex but not sexually attracted to them? I never realized it was all so much more complex than just straight and gay."

"You sound like you're having fun looking into it all though."

"It's kind of fascinating once you get into it." Paulina breathed out like she had finally gotten rid of a huge weight. "I just really needed a friend to talk to about all of this. Jazz isn't here anymore. Ms. Spectra was a horrible idea. And Danny, well, he's great, but we're not really friends. You know?"

Valerie nodded. "I'll always be a friend you can lean on." She was surprised when Paulina pulled her into a hug, but she patted her friend on the back. "I'm sorry I don't really know how to get over your feelings for Star. Sometimes, you just gotta let that work itself out."

"Yeah," Paulina said, sighing, "I just - Sometimes it would be nice to have a way to just move on quickly without having to go through it. It's really hard sometimes! I have to cheerlead for her with her boyfriend when I'm thinking the whole time 'why can't it be me?' But I don't want to be that jerk who purposely breaks up their crush's relationship just to get with them."

Valerie hugged her tightly. She could imagine how difficult that situation was for Paulina. Before she could say anything else, she felt her phone buzz against her hip. "Ah, sorry." She pulled out of the hug and grabbed her phone. When she saw who the caller was, she frowned. "I should take this. It's the hospital."

Paulina nodded. "Answer it!" She shooed her hands at Valerie.

With a shaky breath, Valerie accepted the call. "H-Hello?"

"Ah, Ms. Gray!" her father's doctor said. "I know this probably isn't the most convenient time for you with school, but I thought you would like to hear right away. Your father woke up a few minutes ago."

Valerie froze, almost disbelieving what she heard. "W-What? Really?"

"Yes," the doctor answered with a smile in his voice. "We'd like to keep him in the hospital for monitoring for a while to make sure there's been no brain damage. But hopefully soon, your father will be back home with you."

Valerie placed a hand to her mouth and had to fight back tears. "Thank you for letting me know." When she hung up the phone, they stood there in a tense silence.

"Well?" Paulina asked, biting back the hope in her voice. "What did they say?"

Valerie stared at her phone, almost shaking after hearing the news. Then she turned her gaze to Paulina. "My dad woke up."

Paulina gasped then grabbed hold of Valerie's arm. "You have to go to the hospital. Right away! You need to be there for him. I'll make sure to get any homework and class notes for you."

Valerie knew that, but the news about her father had stunned her so much she couldn't move until Paulina urged her to go. "Thanks!" she said, shoving her phone back into her pocket. "Sometime over the weekend, we should have a girls day." She hugged Paulina before she dashed out of the hidden away nook and down the hall.

She was passing near the cafeteria when someone stepped out of the double doors. Valerie nearly collided with the man, almost stumbled to the floor when she tried to swerve out of the way, but the man caught her by the arm and helped to steady her. Winded from the sprint, she held onto his arm to keep her steady.

"What's going on?" he asked, concern in his blue eyes.

"Danny!" Valerie grabbed onto his shoulders, nearly shaking him. "My dad's awake! I'm going to see him."

"That's great!" Danny clapped a hand over one of her hands. Relief flooded his eyes. "I'm so glad."

Valerie smiled. She couldn't help it. The news was too good not to be filled with happiness. "I gotta go!" She released her hold on him as he nodded. Then she rushed down the hall again.


	20. Chapter 79.5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dan comes to the Fenton house for a different reason than to see Danny, but he ends up noticing something familiar.

Dan tugged his hood down a little farther as he glanced behind him, checking the street for any passersby, but the neighborhood was quiet. It didn't surprise him that Danny grew up in such a nice, family friendly neighborhood. He was jealous, he could admit it, of the happy and healthy upbringing Danny had. But he would never wish his misfortune on anyone else. After his parents were killed, everything seemed to go downhill for him. Not everything was horrible. He had some bright points among all the garbage.

The front door opened, and Danny's mother looked surprised to see the mercenary on her doorstep. Dan almost snorted a laugh out loud. Of course she would be surprised. No normal person expects a killer to appear at their front door, with the exception of Lancer.

"I'm afraid Danny's not home right now." Mrs. Fenton frowned like she was truly sorry to tell him that.

Dan shook his head. "I didn't come to see him. Um," he pointed inside, "do you mind if I come in?" He might kill people and enjoy causing destruction, but he wasn't completely without manners.

"Oh." Her eyebrows lifted a touch as her violet eyes widened a fraction. "Of course." She stepped aside to allow him entry into the house.

Some people might think she was crazy for letting a killer into her house, but Danny told Dan last night that his mother was a ninth degree black belt. Dan was happy not to test out her abilities just yet. A friendly spar, however, he wouldn't pass up.

"I don't wish to be rude," Mrs. Fenton said as she closed the door. "But why are you here if not to see Danny?"

"Well, I-" Dan was interrupted by a happy bark as a familiar puppy bounded into the room. "Cujo!" He grinned as he crouched down and allowed the puppy to jump into his arms. He chuckled as Cujo licked at his face. "You're getting pretty big." He scratched at the puppy's ears. "Um," he looked up at Mrs. Fenton, who was hiding a grin behind her hand, "I was saying something."

"Why you were here," Mrs. Fenton offered helpfully.

"Right!" Dan gave Cujo a belly rub when the puppy flopped over with his legs in the air. "I thought it would be good for me to spend some time hanging out with you and your husband. I get you probably still have your reservations about me, but maybe you'll relax about it after you get to know me some more." When he met her gaze, he saw that he was right. They acted friendly last night at dinner, but they would do anything to protect their son when it came down to it.

"And that's your only reason?" Mrs. Fenton folded her arms as one eyebrow rose, her expression skeptical.

"Well," Dan's gaze drifted to the side, "I guess you could say there was another reason. You see, since Danny told me I was a ghost, I've been trying to get a handle on these powers. I'm pretty good with invisibility, though intangibility could use some work. Flying is more like painful falling from big heights. And now I have this fire thing. Danny doesn't want me to use it for destructive purposes, so I should really get control over that." He winced, heat rising to his cheeks. "I, uh, almost burnt down my apartment in a little accident last night."

Mrs. Fenton nodded slowly. "Yes, I suppose helping you learn control would be best for everyone. And you would be all right with us studying you? I don't mean that as in cutting you up or anything like that," she added hurriedly, perhaps seeing the horror managing to sneak into his eyes.

Dan would never admit to being scared about anything. He was a big, powerful mercenary who laughed in the face of destruction! But laboratories gave him the bad vibes. Stepping foot into the laboratory last night was almost too hard until Danny reassured him everything would okay and held his hand. It gave him flashbacks to the laboratory where he was turned into a ghost. He couldn't grab hold of many images, definitely not enough to piece together exactly what happened, but the memory of pain was still so fresh in his mind that he could almost imagine it happened yesterday. So when Mrs. Fenton mentioned studying him, Dan's first instinct was to bolt and save himself from being tortured again.

But these were Danny's parents, and Danny assured him his parents wouldn't dissect him or even do anything to him against his consent. If he decided he didn't want to participate in part of their research, they would likely stop. Their primary goal was to study and learn all they could from ghosts. They weren't looking to harm the ghosts.

"I suppose studying me wouldn't hurt anything," Dan said with a forced smile. "You'll probably be taking mental notes while helping me learn to control my powers anyway." He shrugged like it wasn't even remotely a big deal, and maybe it really wasn't. But being under a microscope, so to speak, didn't leave him with wonderful feelings.

"Well, yes, probably," Mrs. Fenton admitted, and Dan could see where Danny got some of his looks because she had an adorable blush too.

Not that he was interested in her in any romantic sense. He just had a deep appreciation for people's beauty. Some might think it was only because he had horrible, disfiguring scars over his face left over from the explosion, but he always admired people's appearances, even before that incident.

"I guess we'll do the training in the laboratory?" Dan didn't particularly want to go back down there, but it seemed like the most appropriate place, and better suited for any possible accidents with his powers.

"Yes." Mrs. Fenton nodded. "We'll be able to monitor you down there. In case there are any side effects to using them that could endanger your existence. There doesn't seem to be any with the common abilities, like invisibility, intangibility, and flying. But we haven't done a lot of studying on them."

Dan gave Cujo one last belly scratch before he stood. "Then let's get started." He clapped his hands together, hoping his bravado chased away any panic creeping through him.

"So this disguise you're using," Mrs. Fenton led the way to the kitchen, "is that another one of your abilities?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess so." Dan shrugged. "After the whole thing happened, I looked pretty much like a monster. I needed some way to get around without drawing so much attention to myself. It took a while to figure out how to do it though."

"You don't look like a monster." Mrs. Fenton frowned, almost like she wanted to chide him for thinking such a thing. She pulled open the door and walked down the stairs to the laboratory. "Perhaps you don't fall into the category of what most people might think of as conventional attractiveness-"

"It's okay. You don't have to make me feel better about myself," Dan said, shaking his head. "The scars aren't pretty, and I don't expect anyone to tell me they're beautiful. But none of you ran away screaming when you saw me, so I'm taking that as a plus."

A wry smirk twisted across Mrs. Fenton's face. "You would have been great to have at the house for Halloween. Everyone would have thought the scars were just makeup and wouldn't have been scared of you."

Dan's mouth twitched. "I always knew I liked Halloween for some reason."

"You mean other than the free candy?" Mr. Fenton asked, turning around in his seat at a table along the opposite wall.

"You speak my language." Dan grinned as he snapped his finger and pointed at the large man, a burst of green flame burning at the tip of his finger. Dread washed over him for a brief moment when he thought about what would have happened if the flame had fired from his finger. He quickly dropped his hand and tried to will away the flame away before it did any damage. Killing his boyfriend's parents usually wasn't a good thing.

Mr. Fenton's brow furrowed and his mouth became a grim line, like the same thought passed through his own mind. "What's going on?"

"Dan wanted to learn some control over his abilities," Mrs. Fenton explained.

"What's that?" Dan asked, noticing what was on the wall where Mr. Fenton sat. It looked like a corkboard with several notes pinned to it.

"Ah, just some research," Mr. Fenton answered. "Danny gathered it. Notes from his crime fighting. We've," he frowned, turning his gaze to the board, "been trying to track down who killed our daughter."

Dan winced. This wasn't the way he expected the day to go. But his attention was stuck on some of the pages pinned to the corkboard. Two of the papers contained sketches, fairly good and detailed sketches. His lip curled in a snarl when he recognized Skulker. If that jerk did anything to hurt Danny - Dan cut off that thinking before he actually bolted from the house to hunt down the other mercenary and do something of which Danny wouldn't approve.

The second sketch was of a man Dan didn't recognize but who had a vague familiarity to him. Dan wasn't sure why he would even think he knew the man, but he did have the urge to rip off the man's dumb mustache and whack him with it.

The thing that most caught his eye was the card in the center of the corkboard. The card showed a skull surrounded by flowers. He knew the design well. Dan hopped on one foot as he struggled to pull off his boot. He ignored the confused and questioning looks from Danny's parents. Once it was off, he reached inside his boot and retrieved the plastic bag he kept hidden there. He held up the bag. The card inside the bag matched the one on the corkboard exactly, if he ignored the wear and tear of his card.

"Where did you get that?" Mrs. Fenton asked.

"It's all I had after waking up as a ghost," Dan answered. Though at that time, he didn't realize he was a ghost. "I kept it because I thought it might be a clue to whoever did this to me."

"Wait!" Mr. Fenton launched to his feet, and for a big man, he could move surprisingly fast. He grabbed hold of Dan's wrist and leaned in, squinting at the other side of the card. "That's Danny's high school!" he gasped, his eyes widening with worrying. He snapped his gaze to his wife. "And the time it says is right now!"

"What?" Dan and Mrs. Fenton both gasped as the mercenary turned the card around to see the other side.

"But-" Dan shook his head, baffled. "That wasn't what it said before!"

Mr. Fenton jogged back to the corkboard. Ripping the card free, he twisted it around to look at the backside. "This one has the same location and time on it." He looked to his wife and Dan. "I don't know what this means, but I think we should get over to the school and check things out."

Mrs. Fenton and Dan nodded agreement. If something was happening at the school, they wanted to get there, and fast. Dan raced up the stairs after Danny's parents. Danny was still at school. Danny could be in danger. Dan wouldn't let anyone hurt Danny!


End file.
